Healthy weekly menopause menu: 7 days and a shopping list

Who is this weekly menu for, and who is it not for?

It is designed for women in perimenopause (the transition years before the final menstrual period) or postmenopause. It may suit you if you want to plan your week around a Mediterranean pattern, with a good supply of calcium and enough protein to support muscle and cholesterol, without meal replacement shakes.

It is not designed for advanced chronic kidney disease, where protein, potassium and phosphorus are adjusted according to blood test results. Nor is it designed for an active digestive condition that requires a low-FODMAP diet (for sugars that ferment in the gut) or a different texture. It has not been calculated for someone with diabetes treated with insulin or medicines that can lower blood sugar too much. It also does not replace the advice given by your gynaecologist or doctor.

It does not set a calorie target, because needs vary according to each woman’s height, weight, muscle mass and activity. What matters is the quality of what you eat. For the foundations of eating well at this stage, see our guide to eating during menopause.

Weekly menopause menu: 7 days of meals and dinners

The week runs from Monday to Sunday. Each day combines complex carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats and plenty of vegetables, with plain unsweetened dairy products or calcium-fortified drinks.

Weekly shopping list organised by section

The list is for one person for seven days, with a little extra fruit for snacks. The quantities are approximate: adjust them if you are cooking for more people or preparing meal components for several days.

Vegetables

• Courgettes (3 medium)
• Pumpkin (1 piece of about 500 g)
• Leeks (1 bunch of 3)
• Carrots (1 kg)
• Fresh or frozen spinach (400 g)
• Chard (1 bunch or 400 g)
• Green beans (500 g)
• Tomatoes for salad, gazpacho and spreading on bread, plus a few cherry tomatoes (1.5 kg)
• Cucumbers (2)
• Onions and garlic (1 mesh bag of each)
• Green and red peppers (2 of each)
• Fresh mushrooms (300 g)
• Lettuce (1 head) and lamb’s lettuce or salad leaves (2 bags)
• Avocado (1)

Fresh fruit

• Oranges or mandarins (1 kg)
• Kiwis (4–5)
• Apples (1 kg)
• Bananas (2–3)
• Fresh or frozen berries: blueberries or raspberries (250 g)
• Lemons (2–3)

Pulses, grains and starchy vegetables

• Dried lentils or cooked lentils in a jar (1 x 400 g jar or 150 g dried)
• Cooked chickpeas in a jar (1 x 400 g jar)
• Cooked white beans in a jar (1 x 400 g jar)
• Wholegrain rolled oats (500 g)
• Brown rice (500 g)
• Wholemeal pasta (250 g)
• Wholegrain wholemeal bread (1 loaf, sliced for freezing)
• Potatoes (1.5 kg)
• Muesli with no added sugars (250 g)

Fish, poultry and eggs

• Eggs (1 dozen)
• Chicken or turkey breast (400 g)
• Lean minced turkey or chicken (200 g)
• Fresh or frozen hake fillets (300 g)
• Cleaned sea bream or sea bass (1 portion-sized fish)
• Tinned sardines in olive oil (2 tins)
• Frozen peeled prawns (150 g)
• Cleaned squid (200 g)
• Firm tofu set with calcium salts (1 x 250 g block)

Dairy and fortified plant-based alternatives

• Plain yoghurt with no added sugar (8 pots)
• Plain kefir with no added sugar (1 x 500 ml bottle)
• Burgos-style fresh cheese or cottage cheese (300 g)
• Milk or soya drink fortified with calcium and vitamin D (1 litre)

Store cupboard, nuts and healthy fats

• Extra virgin olive oil (1 bottle)
• Natural shelled walnuts (150 g)
• Raw or roasted unsalted almonds (150 g)
• Chia seeds (1 small packet)
• Natural sesame seeds (1 small packet)
• 100% peanut butter (1 jar)
• Ground cinnamon, oregano, paprika and bay leaves

How can you adapt meals if you have hot flushes or find it hard to sleep?

Hot flushes occur because, when oestrogen levels are lower, the brain centre that regulates temperature becomes more sensitive. It responds to small changes with a wave of heat and sweating.

There is something worth knowing before changing the menu. According to the North American Menopause Society, avoiding triggers, cooling techniques and dietary changes do not have enough evidence to be considered treatments for hot flushes [2]. Your gynaecologist or doctor can assess the treatments that do work. These include hormone therapy when indicated, specific cognitive behavioural therapy and some non-hormonal medicines [3]. See “Menopause and insomnia”.

That said, there are low-risk adjustments that many women find suit them. In consultations, the ones mentioned most often are having food warm rather than hot and eating dinner earlier. Try them and see how you respond.

• Let dishes and drinks cool for a few minutes before having them
• At dinner, choose a warm cream soup rather than a piping-hot soup
• Drink cool water throughout the day
• Have dinner two or three hours before going to bed

Why does this menu support your bones, muscles and heart?

After menopause, bone loss speeds up. Oestrogen, which slows down osteoclasts—the cells that break down bone—is no longer present at the same levels. The general calcium reference intake from age 25 is 950 mg a day [4]. If you have osteoporosis, the Spanish guideline (SEIOMM) recommends 1,000 to 1,200 mg a day, preferably from food [1].

The menu includes plain unsweetened dairy products or fortified plant-based drinks. You can have up to three servings of dairy a day. Calcium also comes from pulses, tofu set with calcium salts, almonds, sesame and small sardines, which are eaten with their bones. The menu has not been calculated to the milligram. To learn more about bones, see our guide to eating with osteoporosis.

As we get older, we also lose muscle mass, and with it strength and resting energy expenditure. Marked muscle loss is called sarcopenia. The same guideline, designed for women with osteoporosis, recommends 1 to 1.5 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day [1]. That is why each meal contains a source of protein (fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, pulses or tofu), while strength training does the rest.

The third change is cardiovascular. After menopause, the risk of heart disease increases and LDL cholesterol tends to rise. European dyslipidaemia guidelines recommend replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats and eating more fibre [5]. That is why extra virgin olive oil is the main fat, pulses feature on three days, fish or seafood on five, and nuts several times a week. See “Cholesterol in menopause”.

What mistakes do we see in consultations?

Eating less and less

This is the first thing many women try when they notice their body changing. Cutting back drastically or removing entire food groups speeds up muscle loss and often ends in frustration and rebound weight gain. That is why we avoid very low-calorie plans.

Having only a piece of fruit or a yoghurt for dinner

When dinner is too small, it is common to go to bed hungry and sleep worse. Then you may snack at night or start the day with a bigger appetite, the opposite of what you were aiming for.

The dinners in the menu are light but complete. They include a generous base of vegetables, an easy-to-digest serving of protein (fish, egg, tinned fish or a dairy product) and a little carbohydrate (boiled potato or wholemeal bread). This helps you feel satisfied until breakfast.

Thinking it is a lack of willpower

If food makes you anxious, you snack when you are not hungry or find it hard to stop, it is not a lack of willpower. Talk to a professional. At Alimmenta, we work on this together with the psychology team.