The Menopause Diet 5 Day Plan to Lose Weight [PDF Included]

Are you struggling to lose weight as you go through menopause? You’re not alone. Many women find that their metabolism changes during this time, making it harder to drop the pounds.

The best diet for menopause includes enough protein, healthy fats, and a moderate portion of complex carbohydrates. Foods included in this diet are anti-inflammatory and promote gut health.

This winning combination helps you balance your hormones, control your hunger, decrease anxiety, reduce insulin resistance, and reduce inflammation. Weight loss is much easier as a result.

Why This Plan Works

The menopause weight loss plan aims to:

• Balance hormones
• Decrease insulin resistance
• Improves gut health
• Reduces inflammation

Menopause changes the way the body works, and these issues need to be considered in an effective weight-loss diet for menopausal women.

Foods to Include

The best diet for menopause includes all food groups to provide your body with the nutrients you need. However, it requires a combination that can promote hormone balance. This food combination also helps decrease insulin resistance, decrease inflammation, and heal your gut.

Best Foods to Enjoy in the Menopause Diet

Considering the above information, here are some of the best foods to have in the menopause diet:

Protein

Protein is essential to any weight loss plan, particularly during menopause. Protein helps keep you feeling full longer and provides your body with essential amino acids necessary for good health. Additionally, protein helps to build muscle, which can help you reach your weight loss goals.

Animal protein	Lean turkey, chicken, and fatty fish (salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel), eggs
Plant-based protein	Legumes: Navy beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, and other dry beans Chickpeas, green peas, lima beans, and lentils

Fats

Healthy fats play a crucial role in weight loss. Adding a small amount of fat to your meals can make a more satisfying meal. They aid in the absorption of essential fat-soluble vitamins and enhance metabolic health. These fats help regulate blood sugar levels, reducing the likelihood of energy spikes and crashes that can trigger overeating.

Nuts and seeds	Almonds, cashews, chia seeds, hazelnuts, hemp seeds, pecans, walnuts, and flaxseed
Healthy fats	Avocados, avocado oil, coconut oil, MCT oil, and olive oil

Carbohydrates

Despite their bad reputation, carbohydrates should still be included in a healthy diet. However, managing portion sizes and opting for healthier carbohydrate choices is important.

When following a menopause diet, focus on carbohydrates that are high in fiber, and low in added sugars, and minimize gluten intake to reduce inflammation. It’s important to note that this diet isn’t completely gluten-free, but it does aim to limit gluten consumption.

Best Grains	Barely, oats, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, brown and wild rice, white rice (occasionally)
Legumes	All types of beans, garbanzo
Pasta	Pasta made from legumes
Starchy Vegetables	Sweet potatoes, pumpkin, butternut squash
Other	Sourdough bread, corn tortillas

Vegetables and Fruits

All vegetables and fruits fit into this diet. However, including the following will provide additional anti-inflammatory benefits.

Cruciferous vegetables	Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, red and green cabbage, and cauliflower
Leafy green vegetables	Arugula, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, spinach, and Swiss chard
Deep yellow or orange vegetables	Acorn squash, butternut squash, carrots, orange and yellow bell peppers, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes
Other vegetables	Mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, jicama root
Fruit	Apples, apricots, bananas, blackberries, cherries, grapes, pineapple, strawberries, oranges, mandarins, grapefruit, peaches, plums, pomegranates, raspberries, and watermelon

Herbs and Spices

Spices add a burst of flavor to meals, making even the most mundane dishes exciting. In addition, spices such as turmeric and ginger can reduce inflammation.

Spices	Cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, ginger, garlic, cayenne, black pepper, basil, oregano, cumin, thyme, clove, and cinnamon
Herbs	Basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, mint, cilantro, dill, oregano, sage, chives

Fermented Foods

These foods can help you heal your gut, and a healthy gut can promote weight loss and improve menopause symptoms.

Fermented foods

Sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, and miso

Foods to Limit and Foods to Avoid

In the menopause diet, we are limiting all foods that promote inflammation and are high in calories and low in nutrients.

Limit

5-Day Meal Plan

Start with a tall glass of water in the morning every day.

Day One

Breakfast: Avocado toast made with gluten-free bread, mashed avocado, and topped with eggs. Coffee or tea.

Lunch: Black bean and quinoa salad* and grilled chicken or an extra serving of beans

Dinner: Honey Turmeric-Black Pepper Shrimp

Snack (optional): A handful of almonds and an apple

*Make enough to use for lunch the next day to save time

Day Two

Breakfast: Turmeric oatmeal, coffee or tea

Lunch: Black bean and quinoa salad or Mediterranean chicken wrap

Dinner: Ultimate anti-inflammatory salad

Snack: A handful of almonds or sunflower seeds

A small piece of dark chocolate (1 square)

Day Three

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with a pinch of turmeric, salt, and black pepper. Serve with a warm corn tortilla and avocado. Coffee or tea.

Lunch: Chickpea-farro salad and plain Greek yogurt with berries (optional: add Stevia)

Dinner: Slow cooker turmeric lentil chili

Snack: Apple with almond butter

Day Four

Breakfast: Smoothie for gut health

Lunch: Slow cooker turmeric lentil chili

Dinner: Lean protein of choice

Green salad with anti-inflammatory salad dressing

Snack: Chocolate-dipped frozen bananas

Day Five

Breakfast: Five-ingredient healthy banana pancakes

Lunch: Salmon walnut beet salad

Dinner: Balsamic basil chicken served with brown rice or quinoa

Snack: Cocktail cucumbers

Greek yogurt mixed with Green Goddess spices or dill, lime, salt, and pepper.

Printable 5-Day Menopause Diet for Weight Loss

Click here to get a pdf copy of this blog post.

Tips to Optimize Weight Loss and Minimize Symptoms

Choose Anti-inflammatory Foods Most of the Time

Inflammation and excess weight form a vicious cycle, making weight loss much more difficult.

When inflammation and excess weight are present in the body, the hormone leptin is altered. This hormone tells the brain when it is time to eat and when it is time to stop eating. It also lets the brain know when it’s time to speed up or slow the metabolism.

Inflammation can also lead to insulin resistance, which often results in weight gain. But it gets worse when this weight gain further promotes insulin resistance and more weight gain.

Add Foods Rich in Prebiotics and Probiotics

Early research suggests that an unhealthy gut is associated with increased fat, decreased metabolic rate, and insulin resistance. So, healing your gut might help with weight loss.

Moreover, probiotics are beneficial in reducing inflammation.

So you can see why adding probiotics and prebiotics to the menopause diet is a good idea.

Time and Money-Saving Tips

Repeat meals and snacks. For example, make a large batch of chili and eat it for several meals, or eat the same snacks for a few days.

This will help you cook less and reduce the number of ingredients you need to get.

Pillars of Weight Loss in Menopause

During menopause, there are so many hormonal changes that losing weight by dieting alone is hard!

For more successful weight loss, consider working on the other pillars of weight loss for women over 40: sleep, movement, building muscle, decreasing stress, and healing your gut.

Create a lifestyle that makes achieving and maintaining a healthy weight easier. 

My Expert Opinion

Following a well-balanced, anti-inflammatory diet can help with pesky menopause symptoms. The Menopause Diet 5-Day Plan to Lose Weight is the perfect way to get you started on the path of healthy eating and weight loss.

Also, make weight loss easier by considering the other pillars of weight loss. 

Give the Menopause Diet 5-Day Plan a try today, and get on the road to achieving your healthiest self.

Good luck!