A Menopausal Diet That Fits You

Finding a menopausal diet that fits the menopausal woman is easier than you think. Menopause brings its own special changes and needs to a woman. These changes can make a woman feel out of balance with the rest of her world. The hormonal and emotional issues are only one side of it. With menopause comes a whole new way of gaining weight as well. Just what a woman needs!

Fat accumulation is a constant battle, for many women, for most of their lives. Prior to menopause, fat is accumulated subcutaneously, that is, just under the skin level. But during and after menopause, women tend to stop storing it subcutaneously (although not completely) and start storing the fat under the abdominal wall. This is called visceral fat storage, where fat accumulates around the organs.

Visceral fat is dangerous. It is directly related to some of the more difficult diseases, such as type II diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and such. So, the right menopausal diet for you needs to be one that attacks the visceral fat as well as the subcutaneous fat.

It might seem logical to start restricting food intake when this happens, but it would only seem that way. It is not a valid menopausal diet method and a terrible idea to stop eating as much food as before. The reason is because our bodies still have a "cave-man" attitude about survival. What you call restricting food intake, the body calls famine.

Our bodies are actually very good at dealing with famine. It does so by slowing down the metabolism and releasing fat stores as energy only in extreme situations. If you withhold food, you stop the fat burning process altogether. That makes restricting calories an example of bad menopausal diet.

Another reason why it is not a good idea to restrict calories and force the body into famine mode: when a menopausal woman stops (or slows down) the process of making hormones, particularly estrogen, fat cells try to take over the job! Burning fat cells releases estrogen when a woman is going through menopause. So a good menopausal diet for you does NOT restrict calories.

Actually, a healthy and proper menopausal diet is not a restrictive diet at all. The proper menopausal diet is eating more food but healthy food that will help you to burn fat. This may sound a little backwards in thinking, but more food that is healthy and good for you will help you lose weight, not gain it.