Menopausal Women Should Skip Dry Martinis and Dry Cereals

The breakfast of champions for women in menopause is warm oatmeal or moist scrambled eggs and green tea – not Bloody Marys, dry martinis, or dry cereal.

According to Ayurveda healers of nutritional medicine, women over 50 have moved into the Vata phase of life, which is compared to air and ether.

 

Vata is further aggravated by anything dry and cold be it alcohol or a trip to the ski slopes. So choose your vacation location and retirement spot carefully. A warm moist climate is far better for a woman in menopause than living in a dry desert or in cold mountains.

Kapha Stage

Whether or not you believe in this ancient form of Indian medicine, it makes sense. When we’re toddlers and children, we’re in the Kapha stage of life (earth). Kapha doshas are round, plump, well lubricated, heavy and grounded just like a Gerber baby.

 

Pitta Stage

When we become working adults we move into the Pitta phase of life. At this stage, we’re full of fire and heat so we can blaze through our careers and child rearing years – picture Kelly Rippa.

Vata Stage

Then we enter the Vata stage of life and notice signs such as dry skin, eyes, vaginas, joints and cracking bones, which are all part of natural shifts in the body. What you may not realize is how often you aggravate your Vata dosha by throwing more “dry air” on an already cold body and psyche.

What Vata Stage Women Should Eat

According to Dr. Sarah Kucera, Sage Integrated Therapies, menopausal women who go on the popular raw food diet are making it even harder on their bodies, which now crave warm, moist, comforting foods like stews, stir-fry, casseroles, and soups instead of hard to digest uncooked foods or rice cakes or popcorn.

Weight conscious, women over 40 and women over 50 start eat more cold foods and salads and try to eliminate all fats from their diets. This is the opposite or what the menopausal woman’s body needs during this stage where warm meals and appropriate fats nourish the body.

How Should Menopausal Women Exercise?

Rather than running in the cold, dry, windy winter air, take a gentle yoga class in an 80 degree studio or swim indoors. It’s much more nurturing to the body and joints for aging women fighting Vata imbalances.

Because Vata types get easily worn out, the best exercise regime is low-impact, non-competitive such as walking, Pilates, yoga, and dancing.

So to live the life of a female champion, add the good fats back in, book a vacation to the tropics, and get a hot oil massage from a handsome healer with strong hands. That’s my go-to recipe for health. How about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: menopause

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