The problem with low-fat diets during menopause
When I say, "Low-fat diets aren't good for you," a lot of people are quite surprised, even horrified. But there's really good reasoning behind this.
The one thing I will say, which is really important, is if you're on a low-fat diet for medical reasons, or if you're on cholesterol medication, please follow your healthcare practitioner's advice. The following article is general advice for the majority of people going through perimenopause and menopause.
During perimenopause and menopause, we can end up putting on a little bit of weight. What happens then is we think, "Oh, we need to lose a bit of weight." And then the next thing most people think of is a low-calorie or low-fat diet. The problem is, in perimenopause and menopause, we need fat in order to help us through it.
Not all fats are the same! There are unhelpful fats, such as fats that are in things like red meat, processed food, and in a lot of snacks. So, these are fats that we know we don't want to be eating a lot of. But there is a lovely range of healthy fats that are going to really help us in lots of different ways.
Why do we need fats during perimenopause and menopause?
Here are a few good reasons why you should include healthy fats in your daily diet during perimenopause and menopause:
1. We need fats for hormone production
We need healthy fats because our body makes hormones out of them. Healthy fats are the basic building blocks of hormones. So here we are at the point in our lives when our hormone levels are decreasing, our body is making less, and then we are eating less of the very things that our body needs to make as many hormones as possible. So, a little bit of fat on a daily basis is really important.
2. We need fats for brain function
Fats are essential for brain function. So, if you're getting that foggy brain, it may well be that you're just a little bit low in good fats.
3. We need fats for our skin
Fats help keep our skin nice and moist, and supple. Too little fat in your diet can make your skin wrinkled and dry.
4. We need fats for our joints
Fats lubricate our joints, so if you're getting a lot of joint pain, if you're getting joint inflammation, which is really common in perimenopause and menopause, again, it may be that you're just needing a little bit of extra fat in your diet.
5. We need fats to absorb certain vitamins
Fats help our bodies absorb fat-soluble vitamins. There are three main ones – vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E.
Vitamin A is often one of the forgotten vitamins. We don't tend to think about it as being really important. We need vitamin A for skin health. We need vitamin A to support our immune system. We need vitamin A for our eyes. Remember, it used to be said that if you ate lots of carrots it was good for your eyesight. And carrots contain vitamin A. And we also need vitamin A to help with lung health.
We need vitamin D, and this is one that I mention on a regular basis. Low vitamin D will affect our mood. It can cause depression. It can affect our bones, leading to osteoporosis. It can affect our nerves as well. So, vitamin D is a really, really important one that we need plenty of.
We also need vitamin E, and again, this is one that tends to get a little bit forgotten about. Vitamin E is very important for our skin. It's another one that keeps our skin healthy. Vitamin E is really important for heart health. And unfortunately, during menopause and post-menopause, women are more vulnerable to things like heart disease and heart attacks. So, it's a really important vitamin that we should be getting on a regular basis.
What are healthy fats?
So, you can see already why we need certain fats, to help absorb fat-soluble vitamins; but what are the healthy fats? We are looking at what are called plant-sourced fats. Remember, red meat and dairy contain saturated fats, which we do need a small amount of regularly, but they should be kept to a minimum.
Sources of healthy fats to add to your daily diet
Oils: Plant-sourced health fats are things like extra virgin olive oil, which is great. You can put it on salads. You can use it in soups. I take a teaspoon of raw extra virgin olive oil whenever I have a plate of soup. I just put it in. You can't taste it. And again, it's great for all these things that I've just talked about.
You can make salad dressing. Again, I make homemade salad dressing using extra virgin olive oil. You can use avocado oil, which is a really good one. You can also look for coconut oil. I know this is a saturated fat, but it's one of these ones that's a lot healthier than dairy and meat sources. Olive oil is best not used for cooking, so things like coconut fat can be used when you want to cook sautéed onions and things like that.
So, there are lots of benefits to these particular oils. We don't recommend things like sunflower oil. A lot of other oils are cheaply made. They contain additives, and they can often be highly processed, so be careful about the natural oils that you use.
Nuts and seeds: These are a super addition to your daily diet. I tend to recommend having them in their shells. One, because it takes so long to shell them, you don't eat a lot. Otherwise, if you get a packet of almonds or walnuts, you can end up eating quite a lot, which can be very calorific. So, I find, if you actually have them in their shell, it takes a little bit of time to shell them. You eat them much more slowly.
Also, the fats in nuts and seeds can go rancid really, really quickly. And that's not good for you either.
You can also ground up your seeds, things like sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds, and flaxseeds. The best thing to do is to ground them when you need them. If you grind too much, put them in the fridge because if you leave them for too long, the fats are going to go rancid, and that's a really unhealthy thing to take.
Be careful of peanuts. They're not actually nuts, they're legumes, so don't eat a lot of those. Nut butter is another good thing to eat in moderation. You can have almond butter or cashew butter, but make sure these butters are completely pure and there are no other oils added to them, there's no salt or sugar added to them.
Fish: Oily fish are another really good source of fat, for example sardines and fresh tuna (not tinned tuna - there's no decent amount of fish oil in tinned tuna). Things like sardines, mackerel, and kippers, if you like them, are good options. Sardines are one of the cheapest fish that you can get. They're also, as far as I'm aware, one of the highest sources of omega-3, which is the healthy fat in your fish oils. For those of you who are vegetarian or vegan, you can go with flaxseed oil instead of fish oils. So, you can get them from all sorts of different sources.
Essential fatty acids
There are also essential fatty acids, called ‘essential’ because our body can't manufacture them. We need to get these specifically from food, and they are essential for our health. So that's our Omega-3, 6, 7 and 9.
Omega-3 is found in fish or flax oils; Omega-6 is found in evening primrose oil; Omega-7 is found in Sea Buckthorn Oil, which is great for dryness everywhere around the body; and Omega-9 you can get in a whole range of different foods, like fish and nuts and seeds.
If you find that you are not particularly keen on eating lots of oils, or meat and fish, you can get what's called an essential fatty acid supplement that contains Omega-3, 6, 7 and 9 already in there, or you can get them separately.
Your liver and fats
Another thing to be aware of is that our liver plays a very important part in the way our body deals with fat. And we know that during perimenopause and menopause, the liver can get really stressed by what's going on generally and all the hormonal changes that are going on. So, if your liver isn't functioning particularly well, that can impact the production of bile, which helps to break down and emulsify fats. A sluggish liver may actually contribute to higher cholesterol levels as well.
You can look at giving your liver just a little bit of a boost now and again, with herbs such as dandelion and artichoke. I recommend doing a month of either one, maybe once every six months, just to give your liver that little bit of extra support.
So, I hope you found that really helpful. As you can see, fats and oils are really important for us at this particular time. I always liken the body to a car engine. If you are going on a long journey in a car, one of the things you would make sure is topped up is the oil, because that keeps the engine going, unless, of course, you've got an electric car. And it's the same for our bodies. Our bodies go on a long journey every single day during perimenopause and menopause. And a nice range of healthy fats will keep our bodies happy.
If you have questions about this, what have you done to help with your fat intake? Are there any specific foods you have found to be really helpful that have made a difference to your symptoms? Please let me know. I love reading your stories.
Until next time, take care and have a lovely week.
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