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Ceri: Hi. Today, we're here talking about the menopause, and we have Marilyn Glenville,
the UK's leading health nutritionist for women. Thank you Marilyn, for joining us today.
Marilyn: You're welcome, Ceri.
Ceri: Now, we've had lots of questions out there through our readers. One of the big
ones that ones that comes up is, how can we all avoid weight gain during the menopause?
Marilyn: Yeah, it's an interesting one because women talk about losing their waist and getting
this matronly figure. Now, there is a bit of a balance going on here, because as estrogen
declines from the ovaries, our body naturally puts on a bit more weight, especially around
the middle of the body, because that's a manufacturing plant for estrogen. So It's okay to put on
a little bit of extra weight around the middle, because lessens some of the symptoms, and
it's working to protect our bone health. But it's important not to put on too much.
And I wrote a book called, "Fat around the Middle," because having too much weight around
the middle of the body is a risk factor for heart disease, breast cancer, type II diabetes.
So actually as we get older and through the menopause, our metabolism goes down. And the
trouble is, if we carry on eating the same way or especially if we start eating more
and exercising less, we're going to put on more weight generally and more weight around
the middle. And although women don't like it cosmetically and clothes don't fit very
well, it is a health risk. So, we have to be careful about thinking about making sure
we're exercising not only to keep our weight down, but for our bone health; and to think
about reducing the calories a bit because our metabolism will slow down, just because
we're getting older anyway.
Ceri: Are there specific food groups that we should avoid at this time, as well?
Marilyn: There are, Ones that are not good for our general health, but ones that will
pile on the pounds. We're talking about refined added sugar which will be in biscuits, cakes,
that sort of thing, because of its effect on blood glucose and the effect on production
of insulin.And Insulin is our fat storing hormone of the body. So, the more insulin
we produce, the more weight we're going to put on.So anything that causes the extra production
of insulin is a bit of a no-no. So, added sugar and refined carbohydrates like white
pasta, white bread, white flour we want to steer away from, and up the protein a bit.
Not too much, and go too mad on it. But it can also be vegetable protein. So, it could
be fish and eggs animal protein, but we could use things like nuts and seeds, beans like
chickpeas, Lentil's and things like Quinoa. So, we've got a bit more protein going in
that helps with boosting the metabolism.
Ceri: Lovely. Thank you.
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