Menopause Weight Gain 13 Diet Myths Exposed
Menopause Weight Gain 13 Diet Myths Exposed
How menopause impacts weight gain
During the perimenopause phase, your estrogen levels begin to fluctuate.
Your body starts looking for a replacement to estrogen and finds one in fat, which produces estrone, the weakest version of the three types of estrogen.
Your body deposits this fat very easily, especially in the dreaded midsection.
From puberty until perimenopause, women usually store fat on their hips and thighs as subcutaneous fat and although it can be hard to lose, this type of fat does not increase the risk of disease very much.
A recent Healthline article notes the following:
It’s estimated that women gain about 1–2 kgs during the perimenopausal transition.
Early-stage of perimenopause
In the early stage of perimenopause, the ovaries can often produce high amounts of estrogen, due to erratic feedback signals between the ovaries, the hypothalamus, and the pituitary gland.
Later stage of perimenopause
In the later stage of perimenopause, as the menstrual cycles become more irregular, the ovaries produce very little estrogen.
Menopause stage
During the menopause stage, even less estrogen is produced.
Causes of menopause weight gain
Hormonal changes are not the only cause of menopause weight gain.
Muscle mass often diminishes with age, while fat increases.
Losing muscle mass causes your metabolism to slow down, making it more challenging to maintain a healthy weight.
Avoid nervous system trigger foods
Coffee, fizzy drinks, and alcohol as well as high salt and sugar foods will agitate your nervous system, compounding the problem.
Daily relaxation
This will give your nervous system the break that it actually needs.
Just take 30 minutes with no cell phone, television, or talking to anyone.
Studies have shown, that just doing 30 minutes of proper relaxation reduces cortisol levels considerably.
Eat well
Cutting back on calories will not help at all.
You need to fool the body into thinking that plenty of food is available.
Have a good high protein diet and cut down on carbs.
Have loads of vegetables, some fruit, and nuts.
Remember to snack as well; you want the body to think that there is plenty of food around and it doesn’t need to panic.
Get enough high-quality sleep
Low-quality sleep can lead to weight gain, affecting body fat composition, energy expenditure, and appetite hormones.
Getting a sufficient amount of restful sleep can help to reduce menopausal weight gain.
Exercise
This is really important during menopause to keep your joints mobile and your muscles strong.
However, doing hour-long very intense exercise only once or twice a week, will not do the trick.
It will be much more beneficial, to just keep active every single day, as consistency is the key.
Alternatively, short bursts of high-intensity interval training will get much better results.
Genetic factors can also play a part in menopause weight gain.
The risk of menopause weight gain
Many of the risks of menopause weight gain are already well known and include:
- Breathing problems
- Heart and blood vessel disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- Increased risk of various types of cancer, including breast, colon and endometrial cancers
Sources
mayoclinic.org – menopause and weight gain stop the middle age spread
medicalnewstoday.com – best ways to lose weight during menopause
mayoclinic.com – belly fat in women
Menopause Weight Gain 13 Diet Myths Exposed
Myth #1 Skipping meals to lose weight
You do not need to skip meals and starve yourself to lose weight
Skipping meals will have a negative effect on your body, with the result that when you do finally eat, you are more likely to overconsume.
Myth #2 All calories are created equally
A calorie is not just a calorie, it depends on the source of your calorie, whether it’s coming from caloric-dense food or nutritional dense food.
Caloric dense food are things like cookies or cakes
For instance, you can have a cookie that contains 100 calories, which will digest really fast, causing your blood sugar levels to spike, after which they will crash, leading you to crave more sugar for that energy pick-me-up, leading to weight gain.
A banana is an example of a nutritionally-dense food and will be a much better choice.
Bananas are a great source of potassium and for those 100 calories, you’re also going to get the fiber and the nutrients that your body needs at a cellular level.
You definitely need to keep your body nourished if you’re trying to lose weight.
#3 You have to starve yourself to lose weight
When you are restricting calories, you are restricting the energy source of your body.
You’re also restricting the energy source of your brain and when that happens your body senses this as a physiological threat and shifts your metabolic balance to burn less because it’s getting less fuel.
Starving yourself can also shrink your muscles.
#4 Eating at night makes you gain weight
Timing of day is not going to affect weight loss.
Calories are what affects weight loss or body-fat loss.
If you eat surplus calories late at night, then yes that will cause weight gain.
#5 Skipping breakfast helps you lose weight
This depends on your body and it also depends on your relationship with food.
That being said, your body runs on fuel and food is your fuel.
If you have breakfast, you will feel that you have more sustained energy throughout the day.
#6 Cut out fat
Fat is very necessary and you should not be afraid of fat.
Fat is necessary for things such as absorbing nutrients, including the fat-soluble nutrients, Vitamin A, D, E, K.
Fat specifically cholesterol helps produce your, hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone.
Not only is fat healthy and necessary but fat-free foods are often loaded with sugar or salt.
#7 Cut out carbs
It’s almost impossible to have a carb-free diet.
Even fruits and vegetables are known as carbohydrates, and you need them for their wonderful nutrients.
Carbs have a bad name, because of the simple carbs, such as cookies, cakes, soda, chips.
They are known as simple carbs because of their chemical structure, which is usually one to two glucose molecules put together, making them easy to break away.
However, with complex carbs, these are long chains of carbon, that take a while to break down, which is exactly what you want, because it helps balance your blood sugar and the fiber keeps you full for longer, preventing you from snacking.
#8 Cut out gluten to lose weight
Gluten-free for weight loss can be a big marketing ploy.
There are a lot of people that do indeed have an intolerance to gluten or some have celiac disease, which causes the body to start attacking itself.
Most of us don’t need to cut out gluten, or fat, or carbs to lose weight.
#9 Diet soda helps you lose weight
Diet sodas have a lot of additives and preservatives in them as well as hidden sugars.
A lot of the added sugars are synthetic sugars, which are supposed to be great because they don’t release insulin, which then doesn’t cause a spike in blood sugar levels.
However, if you don’t stimulate the release of insulin, those synthetic sugars end up in the liver and build up around the liver, impacting liver function, which can then lead to non-alcoholic fatty disease.
You can have a soda, as long as it’s not on a regular basis.
Better yet, drink water, flavor it with lemon, or mint, or cucumber.
#10 Juice cleanses work
If you are having juices regularly, you will be getting the antioxidants and nutrients, but you are missing out on the fiber. Fiber is key for the body to support gut health.
Juice cleanses can also be expensive, and even though you might feel as if you are cleansing your body, most juice cleanses come from fruit sugars and vegetable sugars that have a high amount of fructose.
When you have excess fructose, it has a spasming effect on the GI tract, which can lead to the cleansing effect.
You are better off actually eating the apple, eating the spinach, and eating all the other fruits that are in that cleanse because fiber is your natural detox.
#11 Fast intermittently to lose weight
This can restrict calories and at least temporarily help you lose weight, but you need to be mindful that when you do eat, you don’t feel as if you need to make up for lost time and end up eating double what you would have eaten if you had not fasted.
#12 The keto diet is the solution
The ketogenic diet is very popular at present, requiring you to eliminate carbs, which is why the keto diet is hard to sustain.
Your body needs carbohydrates to function properly.
Also, the keto diet does have side effects, such as impacting your metabolic health and cardiovascular health, because of its high-fat content.
#13 Health is determined by weight
One of the biggest myths is that overweight equals unhealthy and normal weight equals healthy as defined by the BMI category.
BMI is a very inaccurate measure of health because it just looks at your height and weight, without taking into account, your metabolic factors, your physiological health, your physical health, your sleep, your mental health, and your relationship to food.
It’s really important to factor those in when defining health.
What Can Cause Acid Reflux During Menopause?
Studies have shown that menopausal women are three times more likely to suffer from acid reflux or more specifically, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).
Falling estrogen in menopause can affect the production of acid in the stomach, either producing too much or too little acid.
This can lead to indigestion, flatulence, bloating, as well as discomfort
Stress can also affect stomach digestion.
Unfortunately, the most prescribed treatment for acid reflux are antacids.
If taken long-term, there is the possibility that these can interfere with the absorption of minerals such as magnesium and calcium, both of which are vital during menopause.
If you are low in calcium, it can affect your bones and lead to osteoporosis.
If you are low in magnesium, it can lead to symptoms such as anxiety, palpitations, and poor sleep.
Lifestyle habits to ease acid reflux
Sit up straight when eating
If you are eating slumped over your desk or in front of the TV, your stomach will be squashed and food will not be able to be digested properly.
Chew your food properly
If you don’t chew your food properly, it will sit in the stomach for longer, causing it to produce extra acid in trying to break it all down.
Don’t drink a lot while eating
Having a big amount of liquids, will not produce enough stomach acid, diluting it even further.
So, if you have to drink whilst you are eating, have just a small amount of plain water.
Helpful digestion remedies
There are many lovely herbal remedies to help with digestion, and the ones that help with acid reflux, are bitters.
Bitters help to improve and balance the production of stomach acid.
Bloating & Menopause
Bloating is a very common menopause symptom.
Bloating may occur more frequently in perimenopause than during menopause or post-menopause.
The reason for this is that your hormones change rapidly during perimenopause, one of them being estrogen.
Estrogen is important for maintaining the correct balance of water and bile in the body.
As estrogen levels decline, the amount of bile produced, alters, affecting the way fats are digested, leading to more wind or flatulence being produced.
As estrogen levels begin to change, the body will store more water, making you feel bloated.
You are also more likely to experience bloating if you are among those who have experienced the symptom when suffering from PMS.
Bloating is likely to ease post-menopause when your ovaries stop making estrogen and progesterone, and your body maintains a lower level of hormones.
Symptoms of bloating
- Tightness in the abdominal area that can last from a couple of hours to several days
- Increased levels of wind or flatulence
If bloating continues for more than two weeks, you should consult your doctor to eliminate any underlying health issues
Treatment and prevention of bloating
Avoid foods that cause bloating
Certain foods can cause flatulence.
Beans and soft cheese are well known for producing gas.
Avoid fatty foods and overly processed foods, which have high levels of sugar and salt.
Avoid crash diets or radical changes in diet
Radical changes in diet or crash diets can also cause bloating.
Eating small meals regularly will help to digest food more efficiently, preventing bloating and weight gain.
Include fermented foods
Yogurt, sauerkraut, kefir, and other probiotic foods can promote digestive health, however, introduce these in small amounts to give your digestive system time to adjust.
Keep exercising
A daily walk or doing some yoga can move the gas around the digestive system and prevent it from building up and causing bloating.
Exercise also helps reduce stress, which can have a negative impact on your digestive system.
Skip chewing gum and carbonated beverages
These can fill your digestive system with air, leaving you with a bloated abdomen.
Monitor caffeine and alcohol intake
Alcohol and caffeine can have a negative effect on your digestive system.
Instead, switch to water which can help your digestive system flush out toxins.
Avoid smoking
Smoking can cause you to swallow air, leading to bloating.
Treatment for menopausal bloating
Over the counter (OTC) and prescription medications: If you suffer from frequent bloating during menopause, there are several treatment options available to relieve discomfort.
Anti-bloating medication: These are available OTC.
A pharmacist or your doctor may be able to recommend one you can try.
Water-reduction pills: Also known as diuretics, these are only available by a prescription from your doctor and can help your body avoid holding on to too much water.
Hormonal birth control pills: Birth control pills may help you with bloating and other premenstrual syndrome symptoms, that is if you’re still having periods because they can stabilize your hormones.
Menopausal hormone therapy: Regulates your estrogen and progesterone levels.
This therapy option should be discussed with your doctor because of concerns about possible side effects.
Sources
medicalnewstoday.com – cause and treatment for menopause bloating
healthline.com – Menopause and Bloating
