Menopause and Weight Gain: Compassionate Nutrition Advice and Real Food Stories for Women

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the changes your body is going through during menopause? You’re not alone. In this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories, host Heather Carey, a compassionate nutritionist and chef, unravels the complexities of menopause and weight gain, a topic that often leaves women feeling confused and misinformed. With so much misinformation surrounding menopause health, it’s crucial to understand what’s truly happening to our bodies during this natural biological transition.

Heather shares her personal food journey and experiences with menopause, shedding light on the common struggles women face, particularly regarding weight gain and the emotional eating that can accompany these changes. As estrogen levels decline, many women experience weight redistribution and increased abdominal fat, leading to feelings of frustration and helplessness. But understanding these hormonal shifts is the first step towards reclaiming your health and embracing this new chapter of life.

Throughout the episode, Heather provides valuable insights into the symptoms of perimenopause, which can begin as early as the 40s. By discussing the importance of nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices, she empowers listeners to navigate this transition with confidence and grace. From debunking weight loss myths to exploring sustainable eating practices, Heather offers practical advice that resonates with women seeking to maintain their well-being during midlife.

As the conversation unfolds, Heather emphasizes the significance of compassion and mindfulness in managing weight during menopause. She encourages her audience to seek credible information and support, reminding them they are not alone on this journey. With a promise of a follow-up discussion on actionable tips for menopause and weight gain, this episode sets the stage for ongoing empowerment and understanding.

Join Heather on this enlightening exploration of menopause and weight gain, where she combines her culinary nutrition expertise with heartfelt stories and practical advice. Tune in to discover how you can embrace this transition, challenge food beliefs, and cultivate a mindful eating practice that nourishes both body and soul. Together, let’s break the stigma surrounding menopause, celebrate midlife body positivity, and embark on a path toward healthier living with the guidance of a trusted nutritionist.

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Transcript:

Speaker #0
Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. And if you are just tuning in with me for the very first time, it’s so nice to meet you. And I’m really glad you’re here with me today. I am your host, Heather Carey, nutritionist, chef, mom, and a woman who has been around the block with food. I want to open up about real food in relation to health, weight, and our bodies so you can make peace with what you eat. Hi there and welcome back to Real Food Stories. I wanted to talk today about something that affects every single woman on this planet and that is menopause. And the reason I want to dive into this subject, which is huge, is because there is so much misinformation and confusion around it. And I thought I would break this up into a few podcasts because the subject is that big. And today we’re going to talk about just what menopause is, what it is not, and one of the number one reasons why people come to see me as a nutrition coach, and that is this mystery weight gain. So the number one statement I get as a nutritionist from women going through menopause is, quote, I just look at food and I gain weight. You might be feeling the same way too. I totally understand this because there’s a lot that goes on when we are going through menopause in our bodies. So I want to really zone in on the subject of menopause, midlife, and weight gain today. But I first want to dial back a little bit because I’m confident that most of you listening right now have very little to no… idea what menopause even is. And I mean this with zero judgment. When I talk to clients, doctors, friends, and don’t even get me started on my own mother or any woman from that generation, women are clueless as to what menopause is and how it all works. In fact, there was a recent study done in a women’s health journal that I just happened upon. And I will link that in the show notes. That said, over 60% of all women did not feel informed about what menopause was and how to even manage it. It also said that 90% of the women had never even been taught about menopause in any type of formal setting like school. Women are not to blame here. And I could start to point a finger at… the people in charge of our medical system and spew on about the bias towards men and preferential treatment. It’s not a terrible idea to wonder what would happen if menopause were actually a man issue. There might be some more education and research done. Yet, I think men are as equally confused about what happens in their bodies as they age as well. All the hormonal changes, they go through some things too. It’s just not talked about in our society. When it comes to sex in our bodies, the subject has been so taboo. Now, I know the subject of midlife weight gain is a very hot topic, but in order to talk about that, you need to have an understanding of menopause, and it’s even less talked about cousin perimenopause. I want to fill you in today on exactly what menopause and perimenopause is, because the truth is, we need to be educated about what is going on in our bodies. Education means we can make informed decisions. And most women have no idea what it really means to go through menopause. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard… horror stories from your friends or looked on social media about the change, or your doctor may have downplayed it. Because seriously, if you think your doctor is not informed about nutrition, because most of them are not, and what to eat, because most of them are not, try talking to them about menopause. The fact is only one in five physicians get any formal education on this extremely important part of our lives. that every single woman on the planet experiences. So this is a time of transition in a woman’s life, and it is filled with a lot of confusion, to say the least. I sometimes just like to compare menopause to learning how to cook. I mean, if you didn’t grow up with a grandma or a mom or just someone significant in the kitchen showing you the techniques of soup making or chopping or sautéing, how would you know how to cook? And if you had a mom… who seemingly doesn’t even remember menopause, then how do you even know what to expect? You hopefully got the beginner lessons on sex education in middle school and learned about getting your period and things like that, but there really are no resources to learn about menopause in a formal way, and there should be. I, of course, will be sharing my own menopause experience because this is what I do on this podcast. I shamelessly share my stories so you can know that you are not alone. I’m also not above the struggle around this profound shift in hormones. No matter how well I eat, how well I sleep, I don’t drink alcohol, and I do all the right things for myself. I mean, unwinding. my period and going into yet another change of life, the first one being puberty and getting your period, has been a huge challenge for me at times and often a lesson in pure patience. Now, I know it’s something that all women go through, but honestly, I have never felt more alone on this journey. And I think that is because there’s so much confusion and mystique around and this change of life. It’s just the thing that nobody really wants to talk about. It feels like the world’s biggest secret sometimes. So today, we’re talking about it. Even many primary care doctors and gynecologists have wildly varying opinions on what menopause is and how to manage it. I remember years ago going to my primary care physician for a physical and asking her about hormone replacement therapy. And she said to me straight up, you would have to put me in jail before you made me take that. Now, I know why she had said that. She was referring to a very outdated study done in the 2000s with regards to hormones and the link to breast cancer. Turns out the data seemed to be skewed in favor of a higher incidence of breast cancer in women. And most women promptly stopped using hormone replacement therapy. The sales of hormone replacement plummeted by about 75 to 80%. It was a frenzy of fear around hormones. But later it turned out, and this is the most important part, that the data was read incorrectly. There was no higher incidence of breast cancer. Did my doctor not get that memo? Clearly not. So she still, and even to this day when I see her, talks about hormones like they are poison. I have many, many stories about this. There was another conversation I had with a gynecologist in a practice that emphasized menopause. She quickly steered me away from even having a conversation about my menopausal symptoms. I would spell out some symptoms I was having and she treated me with an air of mystery, never once even relating my symptoms to menopause. And the fact is, the more I talk to women over the years, the more I’m convinced that most women really don’t know much about what it means to lose your period in midlife. We women go through an incredible transition, and it’s our responsibility to understand what is happening. Now, with menopause, there is no health class to take that I know of, and you are lucky to have a well-informed gynecologist. And don’t get me started on the internet. Talk about taking advantage of a vulnerable, confused slice of the population. Actually, I am going to talk about it because I want to keep this conversation going for as long as it needs to. I’m bombarded daily on social media with menopausal diets, supplements, weight loss hacks, hormone health coaches, and insanely fit women in their 50s and 60s who are obsessed with working out. They all have the secret for weight loss and youthful success because you clearly don’t know how to do it yourself. And everlasting beauty and aging in reverse are the ultimate fixation in our culture right now. In fact, it probably always has been that way. Did you see my favorite quack doctor Mark Hyman’s latest book title? Always Want to Stay on Top of the Trends, he wrote yet another fable called Young Forever. What is the obsession with staying young forever anyway? I understand wanting to feel alive in our best selves. I think we all want to feel energetic and youthful, but forever? Now, from a female perspective, I understand this. Our society reveres young, thin girls with small bodies wearing next to nothing on TikTok. We don’t have much tolerance for simply aging as we are supposed to. We have zero patience for gaining weight, slowing down, resting, self-care. Losing your period for good represents a loss of womanhood and another flaw for womankind. Some people believe that we are not really womanly anymore. On top of it all, Many women gain weight when they go through menopause. It’s the number one reason, like I said, that women come to see me for coaching. Women are in mental and emotional distress around this. But the question is why? Now there’s yet another reason to loathe getting older for women. We’re gaining weight and we can’t figure it out. And we might feel absolutely desperate. So if you’re ready, let’s get clear on what is going on. in our bodies during midlife so we can start to take away the confusion and gain back some control over ourselves. So let’s define what menopause is. So in short, menopause is a natural biological process that marks the end of a woman’s reproductive years. Now fight as you may, every single woman will go through menopause. Menopause occurs when a woman’s ovaries stop producing eggs, leading to a decrease in estrogen levels. Once we start decreasing our estrogen levels, we stop getting our periods. Now, estrogen is the classic female hormone. When we are youthful and younger, our estrogen levels are peaking. When we start to go into menopause, it starts to dip. Menopause typically occurs around… 50 years old about, give or take. And again, we’re all individuals. So this does not apply to all women. Some women stop getting their periods in their early 40s, though this is not the norm. And some women continue getting their periods well into their 50s. Me, I’m 55 years old. I am one of those women still getting their periods. And what do I want to say? Am I blessed? Am I unfortunate that I’m still getting my period? That totally depends on who you talk to. Whereas most of my friends are done buying tampons, I still am going to the drugstore every single month and buying my box. There are other reasons why you might stop getting your period and go into menopause. For example, if you’ve been diagnosed with cancer and are going through chemo, that will likely stop your period for good. So the definition for menopause too, and the marker is when you have not had a period in one full calendar year, you are considered to be menopausal. But that is hardly the end of this menopausal story, because honestly, menopause is the least of what our female bodies go through as far as I’m concerned. Before we even stop getting our periods, before the estrogen levels drop in our bodies, We are in for a wild ride in the transition called perimenopause. A perimenopause can start in your 40s and it can last for anywhere from a year to 10 years or more. Perimenopause is like the last dance, like the last showdown at the OK Corral, or your body just holding on to everything it’s got hormonally. Before you… officially stop your period for that one year, perimenopause is the gradual transition into that phase. Now, while some women barely even notice this change, many others really feel a profound shift in their hormones, which can lead to a variety of symptoms. Again, though, we’re all individuals here. And we all experience different symptoms and levels of symptoms. But I want to just talk about the most prevalent and notable symptoms that many, many women experience. And those can be anything from weight gain. Changes in mood, like increased anxiety, hot flashes, where you feel like you are starting to burn up, night sweats, which is the night version of hot flashes. You might have trouble sleeping. You might have vaginal dryness, heavier periods, missed periods. You might skip a couple months and then get your period again. You might have brain fog, where you just feel like… you can’t remember where you parked your car in the parking lot. There is actually a list of about 34 documented symptoms, and I will link that in the show notes. So if you’re having symptoms, odd things that are happening with you, and you know you’re in perimenopause, and it just doesn’t seem to fit into any category or the ideal of menopause, like the hot flashes, look up these it. 34 symptoms. A good friend of mine had something called burning mouth syndrome. She felt like her mouth was on fire. And we discovered that it is very linked to this drop of estrogen and hormonal shifts. Now, many of the perimenopause symptoms that you experience can follow you into menopause and beyond for years. And again, when something so profound stays with you for so long. How come there is so much confusion around it? When I first talked to my doctor, my gynecologist, I was about 45 years old and still very much getting my period. I didn’t think that I had anything to do with menopause, but I was having many of those symptoms I spoke about. Neither doctor seemed to want to equate this to hormonal changes because I was just in my 40s. My gynecologist never mentioned the word perimenopause, which can be, hands down, the hardest part of menopause. But the fact is, I wish medical professionals would talk about this more. I wish MDs would at least say to patients, it’s going to be all right. What you are feeling is normal. This is what’s going on with you, and how can I help you? Here are your options. I will admit that after a long, well- thoughtful search, I finally found a gynecologist who gets me and my unique symptoms. So if you’re feeling frustrated with your gynecologist, if you feel like they’re not listening to you or getting the answers you need and not giving you support and help, here is a great resource for you. The North American Menopause Society has a list of gynecologists, not to mention a ton of information on their website. They have a list of gynecologists. by state that are certified in menopause education and hormones. So this is how I found my doctor, and I highly recommend it. And I will definitely put the link in the show notes. Okay, because this is only part one of my discussion about menopause and midlife, I’m not going to spill all the tea here, because honestly, that would make for a very lengthy podcast. And I thought this is best served if we split this up into a few podcasts. But what I want to talk about today when it comes to menopause and perimenopause is the one symptom that is on the minds of many women, and that is that mysterious weight gain that a lot of women complain about. I want to remind you again that I see women in midlife for nutrition coaching, and for the most part, midlife is a time of intense hormonal change. Later. all unique individuals. I’ve said this before, and not everybody gains weight around this time, but many women do. So I want to clear up why this may happen and what we can do about it. I mentioned earlier, during perimenopause and menopause, the main driver of the bus is our estrogen levels. Estrogen does not live on its own island, however, and there are a few other hormones that are doing their crazy dance. But for women, At this stage, estrogen is our primary hormone when it comes to peri and menopause. Estrogen is really a magical hormone. Besides being responsible for ovulation and our periods, estrogen helps to maintain bone density and prevent osteoporosis, which is a condition characterized by weak and brittle bones. Estrogen also helps women maintain cardiovascular health by reducing levels of LDL cholesterol, which is our harmful cholesterol, and increasing levels of HDL cholesterol, which is our good cholesterol. Estrogen also can help with moods, vaginal health, urinary tract infections. It’s been known to help with hair and hair growth. But most importantly, and for today’s podcast, estrogen can be directly related to women’s weight and possible weight gain. And here are a couple key reasons why. We know now that as women age, their estrogen levels begin to dip to a level that stops them from ovulating and finally no longer getting their period. At the same time, our metabolism, which is how we burn calories, also begins to dip. By age 40, we’ve lost about 5% of our metabolism and we lose about 5% more every single decade of our lives. That can be significant. That’s significant for how many calories you’re burning, how many calories you need, how you are then holding on to weight. Estrogen levels are partially responsible for the lowered level of metabolism as well. So this becomes a… perfect storm for weight gain. Now during this time, it’s more important than ever to start being very mindful of our calorie intake and really maximize your calories so you are filled up in a good way. And remember the bone health and cardio health I spoke about? We need to eat specifically for health issues right now too. So we want to be very, very mindful of what we’re eating. We can’t necessarily get away with what we used to get away with when we were in our 20s and 30s. I think even more importantly is that estrogen is responsible for fat distribution in a woman’s body. So when estrogen levels begin to dip, the fat that is really normally distributed all over our bodies starts to distribute around. our middles. It starts to accumulate around our middles. Estrogen plays a role in where fat is stored in the body and lower levels of estrogen definitely may lead to an increased storage of fat in the abdominal area, which is associated then with a higher risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. Having fat accumulate around your organs is not the healthiest. I hear women all the time. say that they just look at food and they gain weight in their stomachs. And it may be true, but it’s not necessarily because you have gained weight. It’s because your weight has been redistributed. Age has a lot to do with loss of muscle mass as well. Loss of muscle mass is also responsible for a decrease in metabolism. The more muscle you have, the more efficient your body is at burning calories. Now, the older we get, we might get a little more sedentary. We might be sitting more. We’re at desk jobs. We might not be lifting weights. So that all contributes to this loss of muscle. And what I’m trying to say here is that there are a few important things at play. We cannot just point the finger at menopause or just the decline in estrogen. So in short, there are three Thank you. main factors as to why we might gain weight during midlife and menopause. Our age, which lowers metabolism and muscle mass, our hormones, especially estrogen, which is also responsible for metabolism and fat distribution, and the foods we are eating to maximize our calories and keep us fuller longer. Now next week in part two, I am going to go into all the details as to how you can maintain an even lose weight during menopause. I’m just today talking about this general overall information session, but next week I will get very specific because there’s a lot to talk about. And hopefully today you’ve just gained a little bit of a better understanding of what menopause is and why it may contribute to weight gain in women. I know for me that my body is certainly shifting, whether I wanted to or not, and accept. Acceptance is sometimes part of the process. It feels hard at times. And I’ve talked extensively about the weight I lost a long while back. And while I haven’t gained it back per se, my weight has certainly distributed. I don’t have the body of a 30-year-old anymore. And cultivating more of those habits that I talk about, compassion, mindfulness, they all have to really be in place now. Like I said, Next week, I will dive deep into our ever-changing bodies during menopause and what exactly we can do to take care of ourselves during this often very confusing time. One thing I want to leave you with is please don’t fall victim to the crazy diets and supplements out there. They are everywhere. Once you click once on something on Instagram, you will be bombarded. These companies and people know you are vulnerable. If you want to get more information, if you want to get a solid foundation about how to lose weight or maintain your weight and your health during menopause, I am also available for nutrition counseling and coaching. And you could always reach out to me and my link is in the show notes. So next week, I will be back to share some common sense tips and our part two of how to fearlessly navigate menopause in midlife. Have a great day, everybody. And as always, if you loved this podcast, please consider gifting me with a… five-star review. It is so helpful for me to get the word out on real eating, our real bodies, and real food stories. Thank you so much and have a great week. Bye for now.