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Nutrition and Weight Management in Midlife

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Each Woman’s Menopause: An Evidence Based Resource
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Abstract

The occurrence of the menopause transition is one that will be uniquely experienced by each woman. Various factors such as culture, social determinants of health, lifestyle, and genetics contribute to whether symptoms are minimal or eventful. Women report weight gain and body composition changes in the menopause transition. These changes affect glucose and lipid metabolism in negative ways and, along with the bone loss associated with menopause, can contribute to noncommunicable diseases. Taking a patient-centered, mindfully strategic approach is ideal while creating nutritional interventions centered around the individual. Encouraging realistic and sustainable patterns of eating based on whole and minimally processed foods that honor an individual’s foodways is essential. With comprehensive nutrition prescriptions designed to reduce the risk of developing as well as manage noncommunicable conditions and cardiometabolic conditions including insulin resistance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and body composition shifts, the experience of troublesome symptoms commonly experienced during menopausal transition may be modified.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Jenevive Perry MS, RD, Dania Brenner MS, RD, and Laine Strobel, RD for research assistance and contributions. I thank Rebekah Jarvis for research assistance. I thank Kate Eyerman for copy editing support. I thank Karina Pietrowski for copy editing, organizational, and administrative support.

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Feller, M. (2022). Nutrition and Weight Management in Midlife. In: Geraghty, P. (eds) Each Woman’s Menopause: An Evidence Based Resource. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85484-3_12

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