Master Your Mood Swings with Great Nutrition!
- clarelouiseblakemo
- Mar 17
- 7 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Welcome back to The Little Blog Of Menopause, from me Clare, at CLB Nutrition.
This month we are looking at Mood Swings - irritability, anxiety, depression, anger, despair, - you know what I'm talking about. It's astonishing the effect food can have on our moods, especially once we get into menopause. The food choices we make every day can bring on the blues or help us to beat them.
Image courtesy of Freepix
As I said last month, I'm not a scientist, so I'm not going to talk in depth about the hows and whys of the biological changes in our bodies. But to give you a simple over-view;
"Women experience mood swings during menopause primarily due to hormonal fluctuations. Menopause marks the end of a woman’s reproductive years, typically occurring around age 50, and is characterised by a decline in the production of oestrogen and progesterone, the hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle. As these hormone levels drop, they can affect brain chemicals like serotonin, which is involved in regulating mood, sleep, and emotions.
Oestrogen has a direct influence on mood regulation by interacting with neurotransmitters in the brain. When oestrogen levels decrease, it can lead to feelings of irritability, sadness, or anxiety. Additionally, the drop in progesterone, which normally helps with relaxation and sleep, can disrupt sleep patterns, further contributing to mood instability.
Other factors, such as hot flashes, night sweats, and physical changes, can also add to the emotional strain during menopause. The experience of these symptoms can leave women feeling physically uncomfortable and mentally drained, which can intensify mood swings.
Overall, the combination of hormonal shifts, physical symptoms, and life changes can cause women to experience mood swings during menopause"
The good news is that targeted nutrition can have a big effect on all of the above. The right nutrition can help your body to regulate your hormone levels. And stepping away from the wrong nutrition can weaken the symptoms and make you feel so much better. So, in this month's blog I am going to talk about how we can use targeted nutrition to have a profound effect on mood swings, as well as other menopausal symptoms. Let's dive straight in and look at the foods that will be making your mood swings worse and the adjustments and changes you can make to stop this from happening.
Foods to avoid
In a nutshell, if you eat lots of processed meat, fried food, refined cereals, sugary sweets & candy, pastries and high fat dairy products, you are more likely to be anxious and depressed. Alcohol and caffeine are both problematic too.
Saturated and trans fats have been linked to an increase in anxiety and depression. So cutting down on all meat and dairy, where you find saturated fats, is a great start. Instead turn to plant based alternatives to satisfy you and give you all the protein you need. Ditch the ultra-processed ready-to-eat foods and turn to healthy and easy to prepare recipes, meals that can be batch cooked and frozen for convenience. We need to think about eating whole foods and starting each meal prep from scratch. If this sounds daunting, don't worry - I'm here to help! There are 4 easy to follow recipes below and many more in the Free Recipes section of my website.
Changing a life long habit of sweetening food with refined sugars and syrups is also a great decision. Instead, get into the habit of using whole foods, such as dates and bananas, to sweeten snacks and puddings. These naturally sweet whole foods do contain naturally occurring sugars, but these natural unprocessed sugars are way less of an issue than the ultra refined and ultra processed sugars and syrups, which are extremely concentrated and riddled with unhealthy additives. Those of us with a very 'sweet tooth' may need to re-train the tastebuds to accept a more gentle sweetness, but it's worth it, I promise. Over the coming months I will be sharing a sweet treat recipe every month, all of them recipes that use naturally sweet whole foods instead of processed refined sugars. Each recipe will satisfy your cravings and help you keep sugar off your shopping lists.
Alcohol can be a problem. During menopause the function of the liver (particularly in regards to metabolising hormones) becomes less efficient. If we further stress the liver with alcohol there's a knock-on effect that can lead to more intense menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes, night sweats, headaches and yes, mood changes. I stopped drinking alcohol in the second year of my full menopause and it's been a very worthwhile adjustment. There are great 0% beers, wines, cavas and spirits out there, so making the switch isn't too tough. And check out my 'Strawberry, Lavender & Mint Mocktail' recipe. You'll find it on the Free Recipes page.
Caffeine can be a trigger for your menopausal mood swings. It can lead to a feeling of being 'on edge' which can quickly spiral down into anxiety. I need caffeine in the mornings but I have changed my morning brew to green tea with matcha and hibiscus leaf, both with amazing mood boosting properties!
Matcha tea can potentially boost mood and promote positive thinking due to it's high concentration of L-theanine. L-theanine has been shown to affect dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain, which can contribute to improved mood and relaxation.
Hibiscus tea may help improve mood due to its calming effects and potential influence on mood-regulating neurotransmitters. Studies (links below) have shown that drinking hibiscus juice or tea can significantly improve mood, particularly by increasing relaxation and decreasing anxiety. This is attributed to the flavonoids it contains, which help to reduce stress and anxiety.
To help my rocky sleep pattern, I restrict my caffeine intake to just 2 cups first thing before switching to decaf tea and herb teas for the rest of the day. Here's my guide for healthy hydration and the benefits of herbal tea:
Foods that help
A diet full of whole fibre-rich grains, beans and lentils, fruits and vegetables will help keep you on an even keel. Including lots of plant oestrogen, or phytoestrogen as it's called, will help to address our naturally declining oestrogen levels, the root of the problem.
Phytoestrogens are found in flax seeds, soy beans and edamame, legumes like chickpeas, lentils, red kidney, cannellini and pinto beans, dried fruits, sesame seeds, whole grains, garlic, peaches, berries like blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, tofu and tempeh, and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts and collard greens.
The B vitamin complex is also really useful for alleviating both anxiety and depression. Foods high in B vitamins include peas, bananas, oranges, nuts, whole grains, leafy greens, legumes, nutritional yeast, flax seeds, plant milks, peaches and dried fruits like dates, figs and apricots.
Magnesium and Zinc. The drop in oestrogen levels during menopause can lead to reduced levels of magnesium. There's evidence that increasing your magnesium intake, in your natural food or even a daily supplement, can improve a number of symptoms, including sleep issues, reduced bone density, low mood and anxiety. And when taken together, magnesium and zinc can compliment each other and enhance each others benefits. Magnesium can be found in avocados, dark chocolate, bananas, almonds, nuts & seeds, tofu, whole grains, spinach and figs. Zinc can be found in oats, pumpkin seeds, cashews, strawberries, mushrooms, broccoli and lentils.
So, today I will be sharing with you recipes rich in these foods. Recipes that help you avoid the triggers while keeping you satisfied - and happy!
Recipes for March
This month I've got you covered for breakfast, lunch and supper and the featured sweet treat recipe is a plant based sugar-free Chocolate Bark, high in phytoestrogens, the B complex and both magnesium and zinc, that magical combination of minerals that keep us calm and content.
Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Figs, Dates and Apricots (and some unsweetened 70% chocolate drops!). This breakfast comes together really quickly and can be batch prepped and stored in the fridge - I do enough for 5 days at a time. It's full of phytoestrogens, is high in fibre, magnesium and zinc, and is deliciously sweet without using refined sugars.
Lunch: Sweet Green High Protein Pasta. The sauce is a great recipe for batch cooking as it freezes really well. And the pasta cooks in under 15 minutes. It's high in plant protein, healthy omega 3 unsaturated fats, phytoestrogens and a range of the B vitamins.
Supper: Quinoa, Steamed Veg & Roast Chickpeas on Red Kidney Bean Hummus. A great plant based recipe that includes broccoli, kale, flax seeds and sesame seeds. It is easy to prepare, the quinoa and hummus can be batch prepped for the freezer and it's bursting with phytoestrogens, fibre, a range of B vitamins.
Grab all three recipes here in the 'Free Recipes' section of the website.
This Month's Sweet Treat!
Other Tips
As I have mentioned before (and I'll keep on mentioning!) I have had incredible success with a fast regime that triggers a natural bodily process called Autophagy. It has helped to balance my moods and rid me of my anxiety, my anger and depression. It has changed my life for the better and I have published a couple of blogs that explain what this is and how it affects our menopause (links at the bottom). But most importantly, I have published a 3rd blog about my own experience with this, and how it changed my life. Read it here. I would urge you to give this a read! It has given me back my joy, my energy, my sleep, my ability to think straight, it's basically given me back my life.
Further reading and sources:
These from me here at CLB Nutrition:
Keep your eye on The Little Blog of Menopause. Every month I am publishing a new blog that looks at specific menopause symptoms and talks about nutrients and foods that help control them. With 4 key recipes each month. Subscribe to my mailing list to be sure of not missing a single one!
From around the web:
Healthline has a number of great articles on this subject. One on natural remedies to boost oestrogen; read it here. Another on foods high in B vitamins, read it here. This on foods high in phytoestrogens, read it here.
Healthline also has an article on Matcha Tea and depression, you can read it here
This from Psychiatrist.com about how matcha tea can help with depression. Read it here
This from Life MD on the beneficial effects of Hibiscus, read it here
This from WebMD on depression and anxiety, read it here
This about how alcohol effects the menopause, read it here
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