Weight Control and Diet
of Menopause on Weight, Health and Shape - Diet
Guidelines For Menopause
Diet Nutrition & Exercise Advice to Reduce Menopausal Symptoms
Diet and Weight Control in Menopause
What is Menopause
Menopause occurs when a woman's ovaries stop producing female hormones (e.g., estrogen and progesterone) and menstrual cycles end. Technically, menopause occurs with the final menstrual period and involves only 1 day. The hot flashes, mood swings, and other symptoms associated with menopause occur during perimenopause, the transitional years preceding and following actual menopause. The word "menopause" is used throughout this document to refer to menopause and perimenopause.
Effects of Menopause on Body Weight, Health and Shape
There are three important health and weight related events that occur during menopause.
Our body shape changes and we start to
deposit body fat around our middle. Estrogen promotes fat deposits on
our hips and thighs, so as our estrogen levels fall, our weight stops
going to our hips and goes to our tummy area instead.
Our cholesterol levels rise due to reduced estrogen. Estrogen helps promote a favorable cholesterol level, so when we run short of it, our cholesterol level tends to rise. Other conditions, like osteoporosis can also start to appear at this time.
We tend to gain weight, possibly due to declining estrogen. Although experts do not agree whether or not menopause affects such weight gain, or whether it is solely a combination of age and lack of exercise. In animal studies, scientists found that estrogen is important in regulating weight gain. Animals with their ovaries surgically removed gained weight, even if they were fed the same diet as the animals with intact ovaries.
Diet, Nutrition and Exercise Can Reduce Menopause Effects
Good nutrition and regular physical exercise improves health in everyone. Some doctors feel these factors can also affect menopause. Although these areas have not been well studied in women, anecdotal evidence is strongly in favor of eating well and exercising to help lower risks for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and osteoporosis, as well as weight gain and body shape.
Diet Guidelines for Menopause
No one knows what constitutes the optimum menopause diet. Each woman responds to menopause in her own unique way. But here are some general dietary guidelines to help maintain health and weight.
Menopause Diet and Calcium
Make sure you get enough calcium in your diet. Choose calcium-rich foods whenever possible.
Menopause Diet and Soy Foods
Include some more soy foods in your diet. Substitute some soy protein for your usual animal protein.
Menopause Diet and Fat
Choose foods low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.
Menopause Diet and Fruits & Vegetables
Make fruits and vegetables a regular part of your daily diet.
Menopause Diet and Salt
Eat very little salt-cured and smoked foods such as sausages, smoked fish and ham, bacon, bologna, and hot dogs. High blood pressure, which may become more serious with heavy salt intake, is more of a risk as you age.
Menopause Diet and Refined Sugars
Avoid food and drinks containing processed sugar. Sugar contains empty calories which may substitute for nutritious food and can add excess body weight.
Menopause, Calories and Weight Gain
As you age, your body requires less energy because of a decline in physical activity and a loss of lean body mass. This means you need fewer calories, or to put it another way:
How to Control Weight in Menopause - Diet
Staying happy and eating healthy food are
both important contributors to healthy weight.
How to Control Weight in Menopause - Exercise
Exercise is extremely important throughout a woman's lifetime and particularly as she gets older. Regular exercise benefits the heart and bones, helps regulate weight, and contributes to a sense of overall well-being and improvement in mood. If you are physically inactive you are far more prone to coronary heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Sedentary women may also suffer more from chronic back pain, stiffness, insomnia, and irregularity. They often have poor circulation, weak muscles, shortness of breath, and loss of bone mass. Depression can also be a problem. Women who regularly walk, jog, swim, bike, dance, or perform some other aerobic activity can more easily circumvent these problems and also achieve higher high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. Studies show that women performing aerobic activity or muscle-strength training reduced mortality from CVD and cancer.
Just like muscles, bones adhere to the "use it or lose it" rule; they diminish in size and strength with disuse. It has been known for more than 100 years that weight-bearing exercise (walking, running) will help increase bone mass. Exercise stimulates the cells responsible for generating new bone to work overtime. In the past 20 years, studies have shown that bone tissue lost from lack of use can be rebuilt with weight-bearing activity. Studies of athletes show they have greater bone mass compared to nonathletes at the sites related to their sport. In postmenopausal women, moderate exercise preserves bone mass in the spine, helping reduce the risk of fractures.
Exercise is also thought to have a positive effect on mood. During exercise, hormones called endorphins are released in the brain. They are "feel good" hormones involved in the body's positive response to stress. The mood-heightening effect can last for several hours, according to some endocrinologists.
Consult your doctor before starting a rigorous exercise program. He or she will help you decide which types of exercises are best for you. An exercise program should start slowly and build up to more strenuous activities. Women who already have osteoporosis of the spine should be careful about exercise that jolts or puts weight on the back, as it could cause a fracture.
Source: National Institutes of Health. Office on Women's Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
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