Did you know there is a difference between eating healthy and eating right for your body?
What foods are right for you during Menopause?
Menopause reaks havoc on your body’s metabolic functions – any unadressed hidden stressors or chaos going on in the body prior to menopause will become more exaggerated and in need of attention after menopause.
That said…The most powerful tool in your menopausal arsenal is DIET
Eating right for your body will include healthy foods, but not all healthy foods are right for your body.
So what makes a food “healthy” anyways?
I think most of us would agree that these foods would fall under the definition of healthy because of their nutritional value…
- Organic vegetables
- Organic fruits
- Organic meats, poultry and fish
- Organic nuts, seeds, beans and legumes
Yet, not all of the foods in these categories are right for your body.
If you feel as though you “eat healthy” but aren’t getting the results you want, have tried every diet and they don’t work, or just plain stuck when it comes to losing weight or improving your health, then it’s likely because there is a difference between eating healthy and eating right for your body.
I was eating “healthy” for years…..or so I thought.
Even prior to menopause, all my food was organic, vegetarian or vegan, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, and salt free – What could be wrong about that?….
Sounds awful, right? But wait…I did make substitutions which I will tell you about later.
So, little did I know that certain vegetables I was eating were causing me inflammation
which in turn zapped my energy, kept me from losing weight and contributed to my mood swings. Ugh!
So what do you do?
To figure out what foods are right for you…
1 – Tune Into Your Body
Often we are eating on autopilot and not recognizing or connecting with how foods make us feel.
Reactions to foods can happen immediately or be delayed for as long as 72 hours.
2- Keep a Food Journal
Check in with yourself 30 minutes to 2 hours after eating a meal to assess your mood, energy and how your physical body feels.
If you feel anxious, tired, bloated, gassy or just “off”, this could be a result of something you ate.
These same symptoms can also show up over the course of 3 days after eating something that doesn’t agree with you.
If I get “glutened” (secretly slipped some wheat) then I’m guaranteed to have anxiety or mood swings for the next day or two.
Other signs of food reactions include:
- acne,
- eczema,
- psoriasis,
- irregular menstrual cycles,
- joint aches and pains,
- issues sleeping
- fatigue
- Brain fog and more!
If your symptoms come and go, start tracking them along with what you ate and see what you can correlate!
3- Try an Elimination Diet
Once you pinpoint certain foods you are reactive to then you can test them by eliminating them completely and slowly reintroducing them 1 by 1.
Here’s the plan:
- Introduce 1 food per day – not processed – organic and live vegetables, fruits and protein.
- Stop for 3 days
- Repeat
4– Test Don’t Guess
Foods that were ok to eat once during menopause all of a sudden cause reactions so tuning into your body to find out what foods serve you best is the key, but sometimes the signs may not be super clear.
Food sensitivity testing can pinpoint exactly what foods your body is reacting to so you can take empowered action to support your body with the foods you need.
Generally, food sensitivities can be a result of having a leaky gut and the reactive foods only need to be avoided for a period of time to help the gut heal.
Once your gut is in a better place, you can retest your food sensitivities to see which ones have improved for those that can be added back in, and which ones still might not be right for your body.
Don’t be fooled by “eating healthy.”
Simply eat right for your body, and take the time to understand what healthy means for you.
If you want help figuring out what foods ARE right for your body, OR how to heal your gut so you can enjoy some of your favorite foods again, then schedule a complimentary Ideal Health & Weight Discovery Session with me here today!
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