MEDICAL NUTRITION FOR WOMEN�S HEALTH

Guideline

PMS

Menopause

General

Principles

• Decrease or avoid sugar, salt, and caffeine intake

• Vegan diet: 75% complex carbohydrates, 15% protein, 10% fat

• Increase complex carbohydrates: to 70+%

• Decrease saturated fats: red meat and dairy

• High fiber diet

• Low fat, low animal protein

Therapeutic

Foods

• Stagnant Liver qi: ginger, cinnamon, walnuts, citrus peel, garlic, onions, legumes, kelp, apples, sesame seeds, brewer�s yeast, alfalfa sprouts

• Liver-cleansing foods: beets, carrots, artichokes, lemons, daikon, arugula, dark green leafy vegetables, watercress, burdock root, fresh juices (carrot, beet, cucumber; warm lemon)

• Foods rich in magnesium, calcium, vitamin B-complex

• Increase omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids: vegetable, nut, seed oils

• Black beans, sesame seeds, lycium fruit, soybeans, walnuts, mulberries, yams, licorice root, jujube, lotus seeds, chrysanthemum flowers,

• Estrogenic foods: animal products, apples, cherries, olives, plums, carrots, peanuts, soy products, coconut, brown rice, barley, oats, wheat

Fresh

Juices

• Carrot, celery, spinach, and parsley

• Carrot and spinach

• Carrot, beet, lettuce, and turnip

Specific

Remedies

• Tea from ginger, green onions, fennel, black pepper, orange peel: boil 10 min.; drink 3x/day starting 1 week before PMS symptoms

• Spinach soup: boil 30 min.

• Tea from hawthorne berries and cinnamon

• Black bean and rice porridge 2x/day

• Steam chicken w/lycium fruit and yam

• Rice porridge w/walnuts, lotus seeds, and sunflower seeds

• For Hot flashes: Simmer 60g celery and 30g motherwort

Avoid

• Estrogenic foods: animal products, cherries, olives, plums, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, tobacco, peanuts, soy products, coconut, brown rice, barley, oats, wheat

• Animal fats: stimulate the growth of intestinal bacteria, which hydrolyze (activate) conjugated estrogens

• Arachidonic acid: (decreases progesterone) meat, alcohol, spicy foods, fried foods, fatty foods, salty foods, sugar and sweet foods, chocolate, cold and raw foods in excess, caffeine and coffee, dairy, processed and refined foods

• Meat, alcohol, fried foods, rich foods, salty foods, coffee, caffeine, sugar foods, dairy products, white bread, refined foods, processed foods, smoking

• If hot flashes: hot sauces, spicy foods, hot drinks (especially coffee)