As we know every woman's experience of menopause varies, which means there is no one-size-fits-all approach that works for everyone. Some women seem to breeze through the entire process while others experience severe and wide-ranging symptoms which can be debilitating. The most common symptoms associated with menopause, include hot flushes and night sweats, poor sleep patterns, vaginal dryness.
 
Aches and pains
Another complaint is muscle and joint pain, this was one of the first symptoms I noticed. During menopause, as oestrogen levels drop, there is a higher risk of osteoarthritis and joint pain. But it is important that if you are experiencing joint pain, that you see your GP.
 
Exercise to ease menopause symptoms
As you start to go through perimenopause and menopause, it is a good idea to maintain a healthy weight to avoid putting strain on your skeleton. Gently exercise and weight-bearing exercise have also been proven to be beneficial for many women. Personally, yoga helps me to relax and improves my flexibility which in turn helps control muscle pain.
 
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
Many women look to pharmaceutical industry and HRT, to help ease the worst symptoms of menopause. Others like me prefer a more nature-based solution. Research from Japan shows that ladies there seem to suffer from fewer problematic menopause symptoms. This is down to their diet, which is rich in soya and vegetables which contains elevated levels of phytoestrogens or plant oestrogens. These are natural substances which have the same chemical receptors as human oestrogen and can help reduce the worst symptoms of menopause by balancing out the highs and lows of hormone fluctuations.
 
But can what we eat help?
I believe that what we eat can help provide the solution to menopause symptoms without the need to resort to pharmaceuticals. Eating tofu and other soy products for every single meal is not practical for everyone. But I started thinking what if I could design easy-to-incorporate food products that contain plant oestrogens, taste great, and are easy to incorporate into our busy western lifestyle? So I have created the Mena food range: Mena-Bread, Mena-Bars, and Mena-Muesli.
 
Mena-pause.com
At Mena-pause.com we work in harmony with the natural world, selecting the finest ingredients to make it easy for women to incorporate oestrogen-rich foods and snacks into their daily diet.

For many women, the effects of perimenopause can feel like hell. So many different areas of your life can be adversely affected by the fluctuation of oestrogen levels. However, don’t despair just incorporating foods which contain phytoestrogens or plant oestrogens into your daily diet can help relieve those awful perimenopausal symptoms. 
 
What causes the perimenopause?
The perimenopause and menopause are the natural ageing process that happens to women. From the age of around 30 years of age, women report unwanted symptoms which occur as their periods begin to stop. The menopause is described as the point a year after your last period has ended, and after this, you are known as being postmenopausal.
 
Perimenopause is scary
For many women, the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause can badly affect their lives.  Often Hormone replacement therapy or HRT can help, but many women don’t or can’t go down that route so are looking to find a more natural way to manage perimenopause and menopause symptoms.
 
Nature’s answer
Phytoestrogens or plant oestrogens are natural substances that occur in a wide variety of foods and are found in food like soybeans, soy milk and other soy-based products, such as tofu, and tempeh. They are found in flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, legumes including chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, and other plants and fruits.
 
The phytoestrogens or plant oestrogens in these foods contain the same receptor structure as oestrogen, which can help moderate fluctuating hormone levels and lessen the unwanted side effects caused by perimenopause and menopause.

 Functional foods 
By incorporating phytoestrogens or plant oestrogens into your daily diet, some women have eased menopause symptoms while others don’t experience any benefits. Your body’s response can be affected by differences in gut bacteria. To get the greatest benefit from plant oestrogens you need to eat them in sufficient quantities, at regular intervals.
 
Mena-pause.com 
If you are suffering from perimenopausal symptoms there is a range of functional foods available including bars, bread and muesli, that are easy to fit into your busy lifestyle. At Mena-pause.com we work in harmony with the natural world, selecting the finest ingredients to make it easy for women to incorporate oestrogen-rich foods and snacks into their daily diet.

As women age our hormone levels start to fluctuate this change can cause wide-ranging symptoms that leave you feeling blue. Perimenopause is a natural process and women from the age of 30 or earlier have reported beginning to experience unwanted and problematic symptoms. Experiencing perimenopause can have a huge detrimental impact on your mental health as well as your physical health. Many women report feelings of anxiety, stress or even depression.

Symptoms of perimenopause
These can include, low self-confidence, poor self-esteem, unable to concentrate and suffering from anxiety, feeling utterly miserable, forgetful, helpless, and not like your usual self. Many women report they want to burst into tears for no good reason. You may also be experiencing problems sleeping, which causes tiredness which exacerbates other symptoms. Often women find they are less productive at work, unable to concentrate, feel anxious, and not like their usual selves.

Natural solutions
There are lots of things you can try to alleviate mood swings, hot flushes, night sweats, joint pain, bladder issues, insomnia, changes to heart rate, changes to hair and skin, and weight gain without resorting to hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

What can help alleviate symptoms?
Ladies across the world have reported dietary and lifestyle changes can help ease the worst symptoms of perimenopause. So just by incorporating Phytoestrogens or plant oestrogens into your diet you can help to ease or offset some of the problematic symptoms caused by perimenopause.

The Mena-food range
Mena-Bread, Mena-Bars, and Mena-Muesli are specially formulated to contain foods with high levels of Phytoestrogens or plant oestrogens. These are natural substances which have the same chemical receptors as human oestrogen and can help reduce some of the worst symptoms of menopause by balancing out the highs and lows of hormone fluctuations caused by perimenopause.
 
At Mena-pause.com we work in harmony with the natural world, selecting the finest ingredients to make it easy for women to incorporate oestrogen-rich foods and snacks into their daily diet.

Phytoestrogens, also known as plant oestrogens are naturally occurring substances that are present in a wide range of foods.
 
Phytoestrogen effects on females
Phytoestrogens are compounds which have a molecular receptor which acts in a similar way to oestrogen. It is the huge drop in oestrogen levels that causes most of the symptoms of menopause. If your diet contains high levels of plant oestrogens it can help your body keep its hormones in balance and allow it to adapt to fluctuating hormone levels of perimenopause and menopause.

Isoflavones, lignans, flavones, coumestrans are the four main phytoestrogens for easing menopause symptoms. Here is a list of oestrogen-rich foods for menopause. Soy-based products, flaxseeds and sesame seeds, apricots, oranges, strawberries, peaches, including many dried fruits, carrots, alfalfa sprouts, kale, celery, rye bread, lentils, peas, beans, chickpeas, olives and olive oil, turmeric, thyme, sage.
 
What foods contain isoflavones?
Isoflavones are primarily found in soybeans and other products made from soy like tofu and miso, soy milk and soy flour.
 
What foods contain lignans?
Lignans are found in whole grains like barley, buckwheat, flax seeds, millet, oats, rye and wheat. It is also found in sesame seeds and kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts,  and in fruit like strawberries and dried apricots.

What foods contain flavones?
Flavones are believed to have anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. They can be found in tea and wine, leafy vegetables, onions, apples and berries, celery and red peppers, soybeans, and in citrus fruit like lemons, grapefruit, limes and oranges and in parsley, chamomile and mint and in high levels in ginkgo biloba.
 
What foods are high in coumestrol?
The highest levels of coumestrol are found in sprouting clover, chickpeas, and alfalfa. But it is found in legumes such as lentils, split peas, kidney beans, pinto beans, as well as in sunflower seeds and spinach. 
 
Foods such as soya and flaxseed contain the highest levels of plant oestrogens, they also have the benefit of being heart-friendly so another good reason to include them in your diet.
 
By increasing your intake of foods which are rich in phytoestrogens and ensuring you have a diet packed full of plant oestrogens, you can help relieve some of the problematic symptoms that come along with menopause.