Menopause has the ability to confuse and irritate your body in a number of ways. It’s as if it rips up the rule book and then decides that the way in which everything used to be done is no longer required.

Amidst the multitude of ways in which your body feels as if it has been turned upside down, your digestion, metabolism and ability to absorb nutrients and minerals just feels as if it has been smashed into pieces.

What this often leads to is the appearance of fat being stored around the stomach area, bloating, nausea, and a multitude of other digestive issues. It can destroy the way in which you view life and completely obliterate your self-esteem.

But, rather than giving up, you need to be willing to tackle the problem head on and one method is the menopause diet. Never heard of it? Well, it may very well be the thing that changes how you feel about yourself during this time of your life.

Best Menopause Diet Plan

Not every woman knows about the diet plan that turns menopause into a great time. So, in order to make things easier, we are going to look at a menopause diet plan and tips that will turn your life around at a time where you are really supposed to not feel that great.

The thing about a menopause diet is that there will be no guarantee that it is going to work to the same extent for everyone. Our bodies are all different and will react in a variety of ways. In saying that, there are a few home rules that will generally apply to pretty much everybody.

Things to Avoid to Diet for Menopause to Lose Weight.

Your body is under a whole lot of stress. In fact, your body feels as if it is being attacked from all sides and that cortisol production is going to only head in one direction, and that is upwards.

So, what you are advised to do is to look at eliminating things from your diet that will make your body work harder when it comes to digesting food. Enzymes in your digestive tract are even affected by these changes in hormone levels, so making them really work for a living is not going to lead to a good result.

What this means from a diet perspective is that you need to look at avoiding consuming as much dairy due to the lactose. By all means, go for lactose-free options or switch to nut milks as another idea because you will still receive the benefit without running into issues with trying to digest lactose. When it comes to digestive issues during menopause, it is lactose that is often at the heart of it all.

Another thing to avoid is eating processed foods. You want to be keeping things as natural as possible, so processed foods are the complete opposite of that. This is often due to the number of additives as well as higher fat, salt and sugar content and none of those things will be beneficial to you during this phase.

This also means watching your salt intake, cutting out those sweet treats that always taste so good and just being somewhat unhealthy.

One other major thing to at least reduce in quantity has to be alcohol. Just as your digestive tract is having more difficulty with breaking down food, your liver is also struggling in its own way, so the last thing that it needs is to then deal with alcohol.

Finally, avoid eating too much starch and also switch to wholegrain flour or wholewheat pasta instead of items made from white flour. They will be harder to digest for you.

The Foods to Eat with the Menopause Diet Plan.

We mentioned the things that you need to avoid with this diet plan, but what can you include? Well, this is a whole lot easier than you may have feared, and it’s all about not only what you eat but also how you eat it.

You must try to focus on natural foods. That generally translates into lean protein, fresh fruit and vegetables, seeds and legumes. Oh, and don’t forget oily fish so you can then get the Omega-3 from it as that will prove to be extremely beneficial.

There are several different options out there when it comes to what you can eat during this time. For some, following the rules as set out by the FODMAP diet works best for them as it reduces the chances of that bloating and general digestive comfort. For others, following the Paleo diet works well for them. You may find your own list of things that work both for or against you, and that is great.

We could sit here and give you with our own version of the menopause diet 5 day plan to lose weight, but we are more about general advice for you to take away and think about within your own circumstances.

So, this is what we recommend for you to include in your menopause diet plan. It’s worth noting that there are a multitude of different recipes that you could then create when incorporating these different ingredients.

• Fresh fruit.
• Fresh Vegetables.
• Seeds
• Nuts
• Legumes
• Herbs
• Spices
• Fish
• Seafood
• Lean Meat
• Brown Rice
• Quinoa

How to Eat and When to Eat.

During menopause, you become somewhat prone to a rise and fall in glucose levels which has the potential for making you feel pretty horrible. Also, this can make you feel hungry in an instant and that is when you may go to grab anything that is around you. Often, this will lead to poor choices.

To combat this, you need to be clever with the way in which you tackle your food. You may be used to the idea of 3 meals a day, but you should increase that to eating something at least 5 or 6 times per day.

While this may sound like a lot, you clearly decrease the portion sizes while also remembering that eating a piece of fruit or nibbling on some nuts would count as one of those times. In other words, you don’t sit and gorge yourself at any given opportunity, but giving your digestion something to work on every 3 hours is an absolute must.

As you can see, the menopause diet plan is not complicated. All it involves is being sensible with your choices and becoming more aware of what you eat and what is clearly not working for you.

This is the time to listen to your body. If you feel bloated after eating lentils, then score that off your list of what you can have. Merely thinking that it’s only one of those things is not advisable as all that will lead to is you feeling somewhat depressed and your diet will stop dead in its tracks.