About 10 years before and after menopause, every woman goes through menopause. However, the severity of menopausal symptoms varies from person to person. Where is the difference? This time, let’s take a look at the key points of menopause prevention with “food” as the keyword.

Table of contents
- Why am I in menopause? Menopause that comes even if you pay attention
- What is the difference between those who go through menopause and those who do not?
- Let’s review food to prevent painful menopause!
- Care for menopausal disorders with diet. What kind of food do you want to take positively?
- Live healthily with food that makes your body happy
Why am I in menopause? Menopause that comes even if you pay attention
Even if you think you’ve lived a regular life in preparation for menopause, many of you may have thought that the various symptoms that appear as menopause approaches are close to being listed as menopausal disorders.
So what are the symptoms? And what are the causes? First, let’s take a look at the symptoms of menopause and what causes them.
Symptoms of menopause and their causes
According to the website of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare , menopausal disorder is “a syndrome similar to autonomic imbalance caused by a decrease in hormone secretion in men and women after the age of 40.” In particular, when women reach menopause around the age of 45 to 55, the female hormone estrogen drops sharply, causing mental and physical disorders.
This hormonal decline is called menopause. Symptoms include physical and psychological features.
<Physical characteristics>
- Tachycardia/palpitations
- Hot flashes/hot flashes
- headache
- tinnitus
<Mental characteristics>
- annoyed
- insomnia
- anxiety
- depression
When menopause is reached, the above symptoms are further accompanied by joint pain, cystitis, urinary incontinence, abnormalities in the mucous membranes of the eyes and throat, and lethargy. If these symptoms appear, treatment with medicine and Chinese medicine will be performed.
There are individual differences in how the symptoms of menopause appear.
According to the ” Fact-finding Survey on Working Women’s Health ” conducted by the Women’s Labor Association, among working women (527 people), 527 women aged 45 and over did not experience menopausal symptoms. is 27.5% of the total. The remaining 70% of people answered that they had subjective symptoms.
If possible, before the symptoms appear, or even if they do appear, I would like to keep it light and get along well and get through it. What is the difference between those who go through menopause and those who do not?
What is the difference between those who go through menopause and those who do not?
As people get older in their 40s and 50s, they become aware of the decline in their skin and physical strength. In addition, after menopause, the hormone balance collapses, and you will feel more and more physical and mental disorders, and you will be aware of the arrival of menopause.
One of the symptoms is that you feel more irritable than usual and suddenly feel hot. However, the severity of menopausal symptoms varies considerably from person to person. How different? Consider two different examples.
In the case of Mr. A, who has irregular meals, convenience store lunch boxes, and many side dishes
Mr. A is married and lives as a couple without children. She was a busy woman who worked at a foreign manufacturer and was very caring and admired by her juniors.
However, after I turned 45, I began to feel that fatigue was accumulating. Even if you sleep on holidays, you won’t feel refreshed.
Due to the busyness, of course, the eating habits are also sloppy. Ms. A used to live with her husband, but when she was busy with work, she didn’t make breakfast, often bought bento boxes at the convenience store for lunch, and of course her nights were irregular.
I worked a lot of overtime, so dinner was often at 10:00 or 11:00.
Even when I eat at home, I tend to end up with side dishes from the supermarket or instant meals.
It’s been 10 years since I stopped going to the gym that I used to go to on my days off. Ms. A, who began to suffer from symptoms such as hot flashes, hot flashes, headaches, and insomnia, suddenly began to feel, “Maybe this is menopausal disorder?”
In the case of Mr. B, who took advantage of illness to shift to a healthy diet
Ms. B lost her husband three years ago and now lives with her daughter in her 30s. She originally loved cooking, so most of her meals were homemade. I shifted to a healthy diet.
A diet that considers nutritional balance. A lot of vegetables, fish and meat in moderation. Are there more fish in proportion?
Drink warm drinks even in the summer, and in addition to seasonal ingredients, actively incorporate ingredients such as tofu, fish, and spinach, which are said to be good for replenishing hormones after menopause, into cooking and get a good night’s sleep. , Every morning from 7 to 8 am, I make it a daily routine to walk while bathing in the morning sun.
Recently, I’ve been interested in vegetable soups, and my hobby is devising simple recipes that use as many healthy ingredients as possible.
I’ve been adding more and more ingredients to my menu that seem to help with menopausal troubles, and I spend my days telling my daughter, who lives with me, in her 30s, “I’m ready for the menopause that will come someday.”
Now, who is closer to you, Mr. A or Mr. B? Looking at it this way, you can see that even if the same menopause is reached, the way people perceive it differs greatly depending on the person.
It can be said that their temperament and their original personalities have an influence, but what I would like to pay particular attention to this time is the difference in their eating habits. Using Ms. B’s example as a reference, let’s find some tips for overcoming menopause from your diet.
Let’s review food to prevent painful menopause!
One of the things you can easily do to prevent menopausal disorders or alleviate painful symptoms is “food”.
Let’s take a look at the ingredients that you want to actively consume from the three points that should be suppressed in your daily diet.
3 points to review your diet during menopause
First, take a look at your current eating habits, such as “Irregular meal times,” “I only eat what I like,” and “sometimes I don’t.”
If you review it again, you will find that there are unexpected improvements that can be made, such as unbalanced nutrition or a diet that puts a strain on the stomach and intestines. With these three points in mind, let’s try to do what we can.
- Eat 3 regular meals
Make sure you eat regularly and eat three meals a day. If you haven’t eaten breakfast, a banana and a glass of milk will suffice. It is also recommended to change the milk to soy milk (the reason is described later).
Try to finish eating dinner by 9 pm at the latest to reduce the burden on your stomach.
- Consider nutritional balance
When considering the nutritional balance of a meal, the basic rule is that the ratio of staple food, main dish, and side dish should be 1:1:2. In terms of each nutrient, the staple food is carbohydrates such as rice, bread, and noodles, the main dish is protein such as meat, fish, eggs, and soybeans, and the side dish is vegetables and seaweed minerals, vitamins, and dietary fiber.
Let’s be conscious of eating a balanced meal so that the three elements are included.
- Actively incorporate ingredients that are effective in preventing menopausal disorders There are various ingredients that you want to actively consume while considering nutrients, centering on nutrients that supplement female hormones.
Among them, seasonal ingredients are rich in nutrients and delicious (and cheap), so let’s actively incorporate them into your diet.
Care for menopausal disorders with diet. What kind of food do you want to take positively?
As mentioned above, the main cause of menopausal disorders is the decrease in female hormones.
From among the many ingredients, we will introduce the ingredients that supplement the nutrients that postmenopausal women tend to lack.
The savior of female hormones. Soy products that must be consumed
Soybeans are said to be the strongest ingredient for supplementing female hormones. The component called “isoflavone” contained in this soybean is said to act like estrogen, and it is a representative ingredient that you want to take to prevent menopausal disorders.
As well as soybeans, processed foods can also be used, so isoflavones can be taken in tofu, deep-fried tofu, natto, soybean flour, bean curd refuse, soymilk, etc. By ingesting these soy products together with vitamin E, which regulates hormonal balance, the reinforcing power is enhanced.
Soy milk soup with carrots and broccoli or gratin would be good.
Recommended daily intake of each soy product
- Tofu……300g for 1 block
- Natto …… 1 pack, fried tofu
- Deep-fried tofu……2/1 (100g)
- Soybean flour……1 tbsp (6 g)
- Okara……100g
- Soy milk……200ml
- Deep-fried tofu……1/2 piece
Equol, which acts like a female hormone
Equol, a soy isoflavone transformed by intestinal bacteria in the body, is also attracting attention as an ingredient that helps prevent menopausal disorders.
Equol acts more strongly than soy isoflavones and prevents calcium from flowing out of bones. Only when Moreover, if the bacteria are not actively moving, it will be difficult to generate.
Recently, it has become easier to take supplements, so it is a good idea to use such supplements.
Almonds that are easy to carry and can be eaten like a snack
Recently, almonds have become popular for their anti-aging properties. Rich in protein, magnesium, vitamin E, and CoQ10 (coenzyme Q10). CoQ10, which decreases with age and needs to be supplemented by ingesting almonds, can be expected to improve the following symptoms that are common during menopause.
- shortness of breath
- weakened immunity
- Get tired easily
- no training results
- swollen feet
- Exercise does not reduce body fat
- sensitivity to cold
- bleeding gums
- Low blood pressure
- skin wrinkles
Approximately 15 to 16 grains per day. You can take it with you and use it as a snack on the go, or crush it into small pieces and top it on a salad at lunchtime to increase its nutritional value.
In addition, since it is rich in dietary fiber, it helps to improve the intestinal environment and relieve constipation.
green vegetables rich in vitamins
Vitamin E, which assists the work of the ovaries that secrete estrogen and adjusts hormone balance, plays a role in supplementing its function by ingesting it along with vitamin A and vitamin C.
Foods rich in vitamin E include spinach, broccoli, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, pumpkin, avocados, and almonds. Since vitamin E is fat-soluble, it is best to consume it in stir-fried dishes such as sauté.
Spinach is especially recommended because it contains vitamin C as well as vitamin E.
Small fish, seaweed, and milk to strengthen bones
When estrogen, the female sex hormone, decreases, bone density rapidly decreases. This is also the reason why osteoporosis increases after menopause, so it is also essential to actively take foods containing calcium.
Therefore, we want you to incorporate calcium-rich ingredients such as milk and small fish. Among them, seaweed is excellent because it contains minerals and dietary fiber in addition to calcium. Let’s aim for bone health by adding it to miso soup and salad.
Live healthily with food that makes your body happy
There is a phrase in English, “You are what you eat.” .
It seems that many people who do not suffer from menopause are conscious of the nutrients that tend to be deficient in postmenopausal women’s bodies and take them every day.
Menopause is something that everyone experiences. In order to spend this period in good health, it is very important to accumulate from around the day.
A regular and well-balanced diet creates a healthy body. Let’s start with simple things around us in a reasonable range.
* The causes of menopausal disorders are complex and cannot be 100% prevented or improved by diet alone. It is important to prepare for menopause by starting small steps that you can do on a daily basis, such as getting enough sleep, exercising moderately, and paying attention to your diet.