Beneficial diet changes after menopause

Older women can improve health with simple diet changes

Women lose up to 10% of their bone mass after the menopause due to declining oestrogen levels. The same hormone decline means calories are burned less efficiently and it's very easy to gain weight.

In addition, without action, there's an increased risk of future age-related illness due to:

◊ INCREASED inflammation

◊ REDUCED immune strength

◊ AND a weaker ability to repair DNA damage

The good news is that improvements in the foods and supplements you take can counterbalance all these problems.

Bone Health

Paying attention to bone health as you age is important – because almost half of all women over the age of 60 will experience a fracture at some time due to osteoporosis (brittle bones). And falls and bone breaks in later life are all too often the start of loss of independence.

Reducing that risk means including foods that are rich in calcium, vitamin D3, vitamin K, selenium, magnesium and beta-carotene.

Calcium needs Vitamins D and K

Before the menopause, about 1,000 mg of calcium is sufficient – after the menopause, this rises to about 1,300 mg. Good sources of calcium include dairy, but also tofu, almonds, leafy green vegetables and fish like sardines.

Vitamin D is important for calcium absorption. Without vitamin D as a ‘co-factor’, as little as 15% of dietary calcium is absorbed!

And vitamin K is needed to ensure that calcium is moved from the bloodstream into bone formation. If it remains in the blood, it can attach itself onto cholesterol and ultimately contribute to hardening of the arteries.

Stimulating bone-building cells with exercise

Bone is, surprisingly, a very active tissue. Osteoclast cells are constantly breaking down and remodelling bone. Osteoblast cells are constantly re-forming bone.

Osteoblasts are stimulated to make bone by weight-bearing exercise – so just walking has a limited effect. An exercise like squats is more effective.

Beneficial diet changes after menopause NutriShield Multi Vitamins and Minerals — Stand a little distance from a wall. Lean back against the wall. Then slide down the wall until to the pose shown.

Anti-inflammatory foods

Overall, inflammation drives bone loss, so an anti-inflammatory regime as detailed here The Delay Ageing Healthy Eating Food Plan| NutriShield will help protect against osteopenia (a decline in bone density) and osteoporosis (a dramatic loss of bone density).

Good foods with multiple benefits

Finally, Omega 3 fish oil (containing DHA and EPA) slows bone breakdown, curcumin enhances the activity of oestrogen – and green tea extract helps inhibit the over-activity of osteoclasts.

If bone density is a serious concern for you – then a DEXA scan can be conducted via the NHS.

Maintaining a healthy weight

Emphasise protein-rich and nutrient-rich foods – like fish, chicken, tofu, fruits, vegetables.

In particular, plant foods with a high water and fibre content – particularly beans (tofu comes from the soybean), lentils and peas, which are also high in protein – help you feel full without over-eating. They also take longer to digest, meaning less craving for sweet foods.

Of all the things you can do to slow ageing in general, avoiding blood sugar spikes and high levels of insulin is possibly at the top of the list!

The nutrient-rich foods mentioned are also anti-inflammatory so they counter-balance inflammation, which not only drives bone loss, but accelerates ageing.

Slowing ageing after the menopause

Ageing is a stop-start process

Most people assume ageing is linear – that they age at the same rate year after year. But that’s not true.

A study published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine found that the biological ageing process correlates with changes in blood proteins and isn’t steady. It appears to accelerate periodically—with the greatest bursts coming, on average, around ages 34, 60, and 78.

Ref: Undulating changes in human plasma proteome profiles across the lifespan - PMC (nih.gov)

So, we age more at some ages than others, and one period is post-menopause.

A healthy eating plan can help slow ageing

A healthy eating plan that cuts the risk of osteoporosis, is anti-inflammatory, helps maintain a healthy weight, and boosts immune function and the body’s natural DNA repair mechanisms is here: The Delay Ageing Healthy Eating Food Plan| NutriShield.

It recommends NutriShield Premium, a comprehensive multi-nutrient supplement that includes all the bone protecting nutrients we have discussed. It’s also the result of decades of research into healthy ageing.

There are a lot of new anti-ageing supplements on the market. Some like saunas, and Nicotinamide Riboside work NR+A, NAD+ Booster | Boost NAD+ for Healthy Ageing | NutriShield.

But these aren’t the foundation of a longer, healthier lifestyle—they’re additions.

Getting the basics right means ensuring a foundation of nutrients that we know from decades of research protect your cells. Nutrients that help re-build your immune system, reduce inflammation, slow the rate of hormone loss, support mitochondrial health.

That’s what our food plan does and what the supplement called NutriShield does. Healthy Living Anti-Ageing Vitamin Supplements | UK | NutriShield

Delay Ageing book explains the ageing process and how you can postpone it

Medical researchers agree that if you slow ageing, you also delay the onset of age-related disease. And we know that it’s not just nutrition. Sleep, reducing stress and cardio and strength exercise are also essential to longevity and ageing well.

My book Delay Ageing: Healthy to 100, published in 2020, explains the latest ageing science in an accessible way.

It’s been rated 5-star and I am sure you will get a lot of benefit from it, as so many have already.

Click here to go to the publisher's website where you can buy the printed book or Kindle version.