Menopause
Menopause nutrition, minus the diet
Periods have stopped, the advice hasn't, and almost all of it is some version of eat less. Here's the version that asks what to add.
What Caitlin sees
Most women arrive having already tried the stricter version
They've cut something. Carbs, dinner, a food group, a window of hours. It works for a few weeks and then it doesn't, and the weight that comes off brings muscle with it, which is a poor trade at any age and a worse one now.
Here's the part that surprises people: once estrogen steps back, the body needs more support, not less. Muscle, bone, blood sugar and the gut were all getting help they're no longer getting. Restriction takes away the exact materials those systems run on.
Caitlin Hosmer, MS, RD/LDN — thirty years in clinical nutrition. The clinical thinking behind Menomix.
Some myths that get repeated
"The answer is a stricter diet"
Restriction makes it harder to get enough protein, fiber and micronutrients, and muscle tends to leave along with the weight.
"Calories are the number that counts"
A 300-calorie meal tells you nothing about whether it held enough protein or fiber to get you to lunch.
"Menopause wrecked my metabolism"
Measured energy expenditure is remarkably steady from your twenties into your sixties. What changes is muscle, activity and sleep — all of which you can feed.
Three numbers
Thirty grams of protein a meal. Thirty of fiber a day. Thirty plants a week
Not a rulebook, a direction. Nine in ten women fall short on fiber and a great many are at half the protein they assume. Knowing roughly where you stand is most of the work.
Read a little further
What's the best menopause diet plan? — Mediterranean, fasting, keto and calorie counting, compared, and the better question underneath them.
Blood sugar in menopause — why it changes and what a breakfast that holds you looks like.
Gut health in menopause — what the research actually shows, including where it disagrees with itself.
Already past menopause? — what still applies, and what changes again.
One meal, handled
Menomix covers breakfast with about 20 grams of protein, fiber and ten functional plants in a scoop. It's food, formulated by a dietitian, and it exists because the morning is the meal most of us hand over to coffee.