Easy Diet for Menopause

Important Diets For Losing Weight During Menopause

The best diet for menopause will help with your hormone balance and will fight putting on the pounds. All successful diets focus on resetting the systems in your body that have been trained by (often) years of overeating or eating the wrong foods.

But also important is the health of your liver and your adrenal gland, as you will learn in the article about the causes for weight gain.

So here you will find information about:

1. Hormone Balancing Diets
2. Diets to Restore the Liver
3. Diets to Restore Adrenal Health

There is scientific evidence that after years of eating the common western diet full of carbohydrates and fat, the endocrine (hormone) system is no longer functioning properly.

This may well be the reason for your severe menopause symptoms. A poorly functioning hormone system can cause either more severe, or more frequent, menopause symptoms or both.

Additionally, a damaged endocrine system can lead to an increased risk for Type II diabetes and heart disease. So a proper diet for menopause, but it is important for your overall well being for the rest of your life.

Hormone Balancing Diet For Menopause

The idea that hormones are the key to weight loss is not new, although this kind of diet recently has some new entries. The claim is that though your diet you can control various hormones which will lead to weight loss and better health. Scientifically speaking, these claims are true but you have to make some tough choices in all these diets:

1. Eat predominantly food with a low glycemic index (this excludes a lot of fruit, corn, potatoes etc).
2. Eliminate certain foods (which foods are eliminated depend on the specific hormone diet but most include processed foods, most grains, sugar, carbs, red meat and alcohol.)
3. Exercise regularly
4. Maintain this diet for the rest of your life with some adjustments after the body chemistry is re-programmed to curb cravings and after you have attained your goal weight.

As we said, there are numerous variations of the hormone diet:

The Hormone Balancing Diet by Dr. Christiane Northrup (outlined in her book the The Wisdom of Menopause.)

The Perfect 10 Diet: 10 Key Hormones That Hold the Secret to Losing Weight and Feeling Great-Fast! by Dr. Michael Aziz

The Hormone Diet: A 3-Step Program to Help You Lose Weight, Gain Strength, and Live Younger Longer by Dr. Natasha Turner.

The Southbeach Diet by Arthur Agatston. This diet helps to reprogram your body chemistry and to restore proper hormone balance.

Diet to Restore Liver Function

The liver filters toxins and processes fats. Normally, the liver gets rid of excess fat with the help of bile. If your diet consists of the typical western diet that is low in fiber but high in fat and refined carbohydrates, the bile can’t transport the excess fat out of the body and it is stored in the liver and around the other organs in the abdomen.

If you store the weight in the belly area, changes are high that your liver is not functioning properly.

A liver diet consists of plenty of raw fruits and vegetables that contain enzymes, vitamins and minerals. You should avoid any processed foods that contain chemicals, artificial sweeteners and trans-fats. Saturated fats as those found in dairy products, animal fats, and processed oils (i.e. margarine) will also put more work on your liver.

Because alcohol is a toxin for the liver, it should be limited or avoided.

Diet to Restore Your Adrenal Health

The adrenal gland is responsible for the production of the stress hormone cortisol. It regulates many other hormones important for women in menopause. Your hormone balance which is changing because of menopause anyway, is impaired even more if the adrenal gland is not working properly.

Stress is a vital function to help the body react to threads and danger. However, for many people, women especially, stress becomes chronic. Over time this causes a state of adrenal fatigue.

This means that your cortisol level stays permanently high, you are always exhausted, have no energy and constantly crave starchy foods. Chronic fatigue causes cravings – which causes overeating – which causes feeling tired – which causes cravings …… A vicious cycle that increases your stress and weight gain.

An adrenal diet focuses on restoring the balance that was lost. Eat smaller, well balanced meals more often, avoid heavy carbohydrates and focus on nutritious food choices.

Additionally, reduce the stress as much as you can and learn some stress relieving techniques. Exercise is also very important.

Menopause Weight Loss

The belly fat that sticks like glue to your waistline is actually the most dangerous. It is an indicator of fat around your organs and of developinginsulin resistance. How do you know when your “spare tire” is getting too big (other than not being able to fit into your favorite jeans)?

Calculate your waist/hip ratio for a quick indicator.

1. Measure around the widest part of your buttocks
2. Measure your waist at its narrowest point
3. Divide waist measurement by the hip measurement

A ratio of 0.75 or so is ideal.
Everything under 0.8 is okay and
Everything over 0.85 is a health risk.

Diet to Restore Liver Function

The liver filters toxins and processes fats. Normally, the liver gets rid of excess fat with the help of bile. If your diet consists of the typical western diet that is low in fiber but high in fat and refined carbohydrates, the bile can’t transport the excess fat out of the body and it is stored in the liver and around the other organs in the abdomen.

If you store the weight in the belly area, changes are high that your liver is not functioning properly.

A liver diet consists of plenty of raw fruits and vegetables that contain enzymes, vitamins and minerals. You should avoid any processed foods that contain chemicals, artificial sweeteners and trans-fats. Saturated fats as those found in dairy products, animal fats, and processed oils (i.e. margarine) will also put more work on your liver.

Because alcohol is a toxin for the liver, it should be limited or avoided.

Diet to Restore Your Adrenal Health

The adrenal gland is responsible for the production of the stress hormone cortisol. It regulates many other hormones important for women in menopause. Your hormone balance which is changing because of menopause anyway, is impaired even more if the adrenal gland is not working properly.

Stress is a vital function to help the body react to threads and danger. However, for many people, women especially, stress becomes chronic. Over time this causes a state of adrenal fatigue.

This means that your cortisol level stays permanently high, you are always exhausted, have no energy and constantly crave starchy foods. Chronic fatigue causes cravings – which causes overeating – which causes feeling tired – which causes cravings …… A vicious cycle that increases your stress and weight gain.

An adrenal diet focuses on restoring the balance that was lost. Eat smaller, well balanced meals more often, avoid heavy carbohydrates and focus on nutritious food choices.

Additionally, reduce the stress as much as you can and learn some stress relieving techniques. Exercise is also very important.

Menopause Weight Loss

The belly fat that sticks like glue to your waistline is actually the most dangerous. It is an indicator of fat around your organs and of developinginsulin resistance. How do you know when your “spare tire” is getting too big (other than not being able to fit into your favorite jeans)?

Calculate your waist/hip ratio for a quick indicator.

A final word: A diet for menopause consists mostly of the foods everybody should have eaten anyway, long before hot flashes made you look for natural and healthy solutions to your menopause symptoms.

Well, no time like the present to make a healthy change – plus you will help your menopause symptoms.