Menopause Tips

When making your way through menopause, HRT may be the key for a major part of your relief.  Here are some other tips that can help with the transition:

Exercise
For optimal health at any age, you have to exercise; it becomes even more crucial once menopause arrives. Your sleep will improve and you will look and feel better.  A minimum of  thirty minutes of exercise a day is ideal.

Regular Diet
Food has a major impact on your hormones.  Believe it or not, menopause isn’t the time to make enormous changes to your diet.  Instead, concentrate on gradual changes for the long haul.  Cutting back on meat, cheese and eggs and loading up nuts, seeds and oily fish can reduce your menopause symptoms. Foods high in calcium, Vitamins E, D and B and magnesium can also be extremely beneficial for menopausal women.

Fats
Fried foods are full of transfatty acids, so avoid these at all costs.  Trans fats develop when liquid oils solidify through partial hydrogenation, a process that extends the shelf life of food and transforms "safe" unsaturated fat into dangerous fat. Unfortunately, trans fats are found in all the foods we love: doughnuts, crackers, cookies, chips, cakes, pies, some breads and foods fried in hydrogenated fat (chicken, fish, potatoes). Additionally, things we cook and bake with like margarine and solid vegetable shortening are made with trans fats. Cook with olive oil instead.

Alcohol
It’s a sad fact that alcohol makes hot flashes worse.   Remember back in the day how you felt in the morning after a rough night out?  You would alternate between hot flashes and cold sweats and you drank tons of water and ate lots of greasy food to replenish your system?  Well, just think how you would feel now after a few drinks if you’re already experiencing hot flashes.  With many menopause symptoms, you may want to skip the booze and stick with club soda.

Caffeine
As hard as it might be to break the double-latte-a-day habit, caffeine really does have an adverse affect you. It dehydrates you and leaves you ill-equipped to deal with the more unpleasant effects of menopause such as migraines. Cut back to half-caf, give decaffeinated coffee and tea a whirl, and try to eliminate your caffeine intake completely after 3 or 4pm.

Fish
In some cases, fat is good.  In the case of certain types of fish, fat is really good. Fish high in Omega-3s is great for memory and dry skin. Salmon, sardines, halibut, tuna, mackerel and herring are all wonderful sources of good fats.

Chocolate

Menopause isn’t all doom and gloom.  There is actually one tasty benefit – chocolate! Menopause is a great excuse to indulge in dark chocolate once in a while, as it is low in sugar and is a good source of magnesium and antioxidants, which are great for heart health. According to The British Medical Journal, 100 grams (3-4 oz.) of dark chocolate reduced blood pressure and heart related problems by 21 percent.  To get any real benefit, though, make sure your chocolate is 71 percent cocoa or higher, which means it will be really dark.

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