Day 29: Two Great Menopause Diet Recipes

Today I had some delicious food!

It is interesting how since I have been doing this diet I have enjoyed the taste of food much more. I noticed when I was eating lots of junk, particularly high sugar/fat I felt that ‘real’ food tasted bland and uninteresting. This was because my palette was attuned to the taste of high fat and high sugar and when that’s what you want, nothing healthy matches up to it.

Today for lunch I made a quick mackerel salad that was fast, easy and very tasty and very good for skin, hair, anti-aging, joints, blood pressure and heart!

This is what the salad contained:

Peppered mackerel – great source of Omega 3

Half an avocado – anti oxidants, Vit E, monounsaturated fatty acid, carotenoids

Sprouted Alfafa  – antioxidants, vitamins & protein

Hummus – chickpeas are a great source of phytoestrogens – essential in combating menopause symptoms

Olives – monounsaturated fats

Tomatoes – vitamins, antioxidant lycopene

Beetroot – antioxidants, vitamins and minerals

It was from a diet point of view probably fairly high in fat – but all the ‘good’ kind and half my plate was vegetables/fruit.

For Dinner I made a wonderful red lentil and sweet potato dahl – see dinner recipe page – full of phytoestrogens & protein (lentils)  and antioxidants, fibre, vitamins, complex carbs (sweet potato), plus mushrooms, onions, garlic and miso!

so heres my Day 29 Food Diary:

Breakfast: Menopause Muesli – see breakfast recipe page

Lunch: Peppered Mackerel salad – see above

Dinner: Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Dahl

Drinks & Snacks: herbal tea, pear, slice of menopause cake – see snack recipe page – with tahini

Day 2: Menopause Diet Books

I bought some books about eating healthily around the menopause and how diet can help alleviate symptoms naturally.

I bought:

The Menopause Diet by Theresa Cheung

Lots of writing based on scientific research, studies and anecdotes plus a few recipes. Lots of great tips and advice and practical help.

Healthy Eating for the Menopause by Dr Marilyn Glenville

Excellent recipe book with coloured pictures. All simple to follow and easy to prepare. I think this will be my ‘bible’.

Eat Smart Beat the Menopause by Jane Frank

Loads of recipes, mainly black and white so not so appealing to look at as the book above – I like seeing a picture of what I am making!

Eat to Beat Menopause by Linda Kearns

More great, simple recipes including the famous Linda Kearns Menopause Cake – more on this in a later post!

All the books have loads of great advice and are totally adamant that the majority of menopausal symptoms can be pretty much eradicated by diet. Here is my summary of the main ideas…

The main way to stay healthy and keep menopausal symptoms at bay is by upping your intake of beneficial oestrogen in the form of PHYTO OESTROGENS. These are plant hormones, found naturally in certain foods such as soya, lentils, chickpeas, flaxseeds & alfalfa sprouts. Fortunately I love all that ‘hippie, veggie’ stuff!

It is also important to keep eating small amounts of ‘good’ polyunsaturated fats (omega 3 & 6) found typically in nuts, seeds, oily fish and dark green veg and monounsaturated fat such as that found in extra virgin olive oil. It is still important to eat these even if you are trying to lose weight.

Finally eat as much anti-oxidants as possible. These combat free radicals which have been linked to premature ageing, cancer, heart disease. Good sources of antioxidants are brightly coloured fruit and vegetables (especially red, orange and yellow), citrus fruits, green leafy veg, nuts, avocados, seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, linseed, almonds, brazils) and green tea.

Plus, lots of fibre to keep bowels healthy!

All the books advise limiting your intake of animal protein, dairy and processed food, especially sugar.

So here is my Day 2 food diary:

Breakfast: Banana, Menopause Museli (see Breakfast recipe page) with soya milk

Lunch: Sandwich made from Bavarian Donka bread (a delicious multiseed loaf, half wheat and half rye) with a filling of felafel (chickpeas – good pyhtooestogens!) avocado (good fats) tomatoes and rocket.

Dinner: Fish curry, wholegrain rice & asparagus

Snacks & Drinks: olives, cherry tomatoes, herbal tea

Another good day, although dinner was not ideal as the curry was a bit creamy and high in fat (not the good kind!). Also I left it a bit late and was starving so probably ate a bit too much.

I am not really worried about counting calories as many of the healthy foods essential to managing the menopause are not part of traditional weight loss diet plans. This may be my downfall… time will tell… but for now I am just trying to eat the right foods and not too much of them and no snacking on sugary, fatty processed foods.