Menopause and arthritis

hollands686

Does anyone have any suggestions for nutrition to support the menopause and arthritis?

AnnPT77

Honestly, I don't think nutrition is dramatically different because of menopause or arthritis. (Both of those apply to me, BTW. For context, I'm 69F, now active, and at a healthy weight with good health markers after previous decades of poor results on those fronts.)

Weight gain is statistically common, but much of the cause is gradually reduced activity, plus gradual loss of muscle mass if we've been doing nothing to challenge and improve strength. Both of those are things we can reverse intentionally, by increasing activity (daily life activity as well as formal exercise) and including some strength-challenging exercise specifically.

Generically, body fat levels are about calorie balance. Personally, I think it's extra important to lose at a sensibly moderate pace when aging, not go for fast loss. I can't speak for you, but as I age I find I'm less resilient to stress or any kind of overdoing than I was decades ago. Weight loss, changes in eating patterns, or new exercise are all stressors, even though we hope and expect they'll have good long-term effects. Manageably steady change and progress on the combination of those fronts minimizes risk of injury or health risk.

Some nutrients to pay extra attention to are protein; vitamins D, C and the Bs; and calcium. Getting nutrients from food is preferable, where possible. Also, your primary care physician can order blood tests to assess some of those things. It's good to test before using supplements, since supplementing can distort the test results in some cases.

 It's especially common among aging people to get less than ideal amounts of protein, and as we age it becomes more important not only to get enough in total, but to spread it through the day more than was necessary when we were young. (That's because we metabolize it somewhat less efficiently.) In my circle, older women trying to manage body weight are especially likely to lowball protein and fats, because we generally have lower calorie needs and may tend to go heavy on salads and veggies to keep those calories lower. Salads and veggies are great, but protein and fats are essential nutrients.

Rules of thumb for protein tend to be in the range of 0.6-0.8 grams of protein daily per pound of healthy body weight, as a minimum. (Yes, I mean per pound, not per kg.) High quality and bioavailable protein are important, so meat, fish, dairy, eggs, as long as you eat those. I'm vegetarian, so don't eat meat/fish. I can explain more about how to get adequate protein that way if you're vegetarian or vegan, but if you're like most people and eat that full range, meat and fish are great.

Though expert guidance is less clear on this, I personally think 0.35-0.45 grams of fat per pound of body weight is a reasonable minimum.

It's fine to go over protein or fats minimums, as long as it doesn't drive out other necessary nutrition or put us over reasonable calories. Also, it's not essential to be exactly exact every single day on any of these things: Pretty close on average over a small number of days should be fine.

Carbs are much demonized nowadays, and people with certain health conditions may need to manage them carefully, but veggies and fruits are good sources for micronutrients and fiber that are also carb-carrying.

Loosely speaking, protein and fats are essential nutrients in the technical sense that our bodies can't manufacture parts of them out of anything else, so we need to eat some for best health. Carbs are more flexible and individual. For myself, I focus on reaching at least my protein and fats minimums, and use carbs to balance calories.

Depending on one's starting point, this may sound like a lot, but it's absolutely fine to just start logging food - if that's why you're on MFP - look at how current habits shape up against reasonable goals, and gradually tweak routine habits to improve any aspect where it seems like it might be helpful. As long as eating in a generally reasonable way overall, and not diagnosed already with a deficiency or important diet-relevant serious health condition, malnutrition doesn't kick in quickly. We have time to dial in improved nutrition, and focus on modifying routine habits to do so, so that we don't have to micromanage every single day.

Activity - formal exercise or otherwise - is an important part of the situation, but it doesn't need to be some punitively intense daily thing. Ideal is to start wherever we are, and do enough to create a manageable challenge to current capabilities on both the cardiovascular and strength sides of things (though not necessarily ramping both up at once from the get-go). "Manageable" avoids counter-productive fatigue and minimizes injury risk, and the "challenge" part creates fitness progress.

As we do more than before, what we do gets easier - that's the definition of fitness improvement. That's a signal to increase some aspect - duration, frequency, intensity or type of exercise - if we want to keep creating fitness progress.

I hope this makes sense.

Wishing you success!

P.S. There are a lot of marketers/influencers these days who are trying to sell their magic hacks or tricks for menopausal women: Diets, exercise programs, supplements, you name it. Sometimes they want $$$ out of our pockets, sometimes just our eyeballs on their ads or sponsored products. Most of that is IMO overcomplicating BS. If we figure out we're competent on our own, they don't profit, so they need to make it seem too, too complicated. Nah.

brownme616

Six years ago, I started to develop painful arthritis. I was also 30 pounds overweight. I lost all the weight and switched to a healthy clean diet. (Nuts, seeds, veggies, fruits, lean protein, healthy fats etc) A year in, almost all trace of the arthritis was gone. (Thanks for helping me do that, MFP!) I am now 66. I am on no medications. I exercise moderately, switching between different activities. If I do overdo one activity, my joints will let me know. But normally I am symptom free! I am not kidding!! This is how I have managed my arthritis.

I will add that my mom was overweight and had arthritis too-ended up with lots of pain and joint replacements, etc. I am motivated not to go down that path.

maryjay52

various berries ..also i am drinking ancient nutrition strawberry lemonade collagen and somehow I feel it helps because I find my arthritic pain subsides after having it a few days in a row.stretching. range of motion exercises and if you are able to go to a gym with a swimming pool helps tremendously