From dieting to freedom: healing your relationship with food after menopause
For many women, menopause marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. While this transition brings significant physical and emotional changes, it can also highlight long-standing struggles with food and body image. Many women find themselves caught in a cycle of dieting, emotional eating, and food guilt which has often been the pattern for many years. Poat-menopause can offer an opportunity for change, instead of continuing the battle with food, it’s time to embrace a healthier, more intuitive approach that supports both body and mind as you age.
Why Menopause Can Trigger Disordered Eating
Disordered eating isn’t just about extreme diets or eating disorders—it exists on a spectrum. Many women experience chronic dieting, binge eating, or emotional eating, especially as their bodies change in midlife. Several key factors contribute to this:
1. Hormonal Changes and Their Impact on Appetite and Mood
Oestrogen plays a role in regulating metabolism, hunger signals, and mood. When levels drop post-menopause, many women notice increased cravings, fluctuating appetite, and emotional shifts, all of which can contribute to disordered eating behaviours such as binge eating or restricting food intake.
2. Menopause and Insulin Resistance
As oestrogen declines, the body becomes less efficient at managing blood sugar, increasing the risk of insulin resistance. This means that after eating carbohydrate-rich foods, blood sugar levels may rise more sharply and take longer to return to normal. Many women find themselves experiencing energy crashes, stronger cravings for sugary or starchy foods, and increased hunger, all of which can fuel binge eating or cycles of restriction and overconsumption.
The fear of weight gain due to insulin resistance may also lead to overly restrictive eating patterns—such as cutting out all carbohydrates—which can backfire by increasing cravings and making it harder to maintain a balanced, sustainable way of eating. Understanding how to stabilise blood sugar with balanced meals rather than extreme dieting is key to preventing disordered eating patterns.
3. Cultural Pressures and Body Image
Ageing in a society that idolises youth and thinness can feel challenging. Many women fear gaining weight and feel pressured to maintain their pre-menopausal bodies. This pressure can lead to extreme dieting, over-exercising, or disordered eating patterns that make food feel like an ongoing battle.
4. Slower Metabolism and Fear of Weight Gain
The natural decline in metabolic rate post-menopause often results in weight redistribution, particularly around the midsection. Some women respond with restrictive eating, skipping meals, or cutting out food groups entirely—practices that can actually backfire, leading to increased hunger and loss of muscle mass.
5. Emotional Eating and Life Transitions
Menopause often coincides with other major life changes: children leaving home, career shifts, relationship changes, or even the loss of loved ones. Increased stress, anxiety, or a sense of identity loss can lead to emotional eating as a way to cope with difficult feelings.
6. The Growing Link Between Neurodivergence and Disordered Eating
An increasing number of women are being diagnosed with ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions during menopause. The drop in oestrogen can worsen executive functioning, making it harder to regulate emotions, plan meals, and manage impulse control around food. Women with ADHD, for example, are at greater risk of binge eating and chaotic eating patterns due to difficulties with meal consistency and sensory sensitivities. Years of undiagnosed neurodivergence can also contribute to a history of restrictive eating or excessive food rules as a way to create a sense of control.
Breaking Free from the Cycle
If you recognise signs of disordered eating in yourself or someone you know, it's important to address them with compassion rather than self-judgment. Here are some steps to help navigate post-menopausal eating challenges:
Shift the Focus to Health, Not Weight: Instead of restrictive dieting, focus on nourishing your body with balanced meals that support energy, digestion, and metabolic health.
Tune Into Hunger and Fullness Cues: Learning to eat intuitively—listening to your body's natural hunger and fullness signals—can help restore a healthier relationship with food.
Address Emotional Eating Triggers: Identifying emotional triggers and finding alternative coping mechanisms, such as mindfulness, movement, or creative hobbies, can reduce the urge to eat in response to stress.
Seek Professional Support: Working with a qualified nutritional therapist or therapist who understands the nuances of post-menopause and disordered eating can provide the guidance needed to break free from restrictive or compulsive eating patterns.
Three Key Nutrition Changes that can Support a Healthier Relationship with Food
Rather than focusing on restriction, implementing small, sustainable nutrition changes can help stabilise energy levels and improve overall well-being. Here are three simple adjustments to consider:
Incorporate Protein at Each Meal or Snack: Protein helps to regulate blood sugar, keep you fuller for longer, and reduce cravings.
Examples: Greek yoghurt with nuts and berries, hummus with vegetable sticks, eggs and smoked salmon on wholegrain toast.
Switch Refined Carbohydrates for Whole Grains: Whole grains provide sustained energy, fibre, and essential nutrients to support digestion and metabolism.
Examples: Swap white rice for quinoa, white bread for wholegrain or sourdough, and white pasta for wholewheat or lentil pasta.
Include More Fibre: Fibre supports gut health, helps maintain stable blood sugar, and improves satiety.
Examples: Add chia seeds to smoothies or porridge, include lentils or beans in soups and stews, and snack on nuts and seeds.
Three non-food Strategies that can help
Focusing on non-food-related strategies can be just (if not more) important in breaking the cycle of disordered eating. Here are three simple yet effective approaches:
Practice Self-Compassion: Many women have spent decades criticising their bodies and punishing themselves for perceived failures around food. Learning to treat yourself with kindness and shifting your internal dialogue from judgment to self-care can help reduce the stress and shame that often fuel disordered eating.
Engage in Mindful Eating: Slowing down and paying attention to your meals—savouring the flavours, textures, and sensations—can help you reconnect with your body's natural hunger and fullness cues. Avoiding distractions like screens while eating can make a significant difference in reducing overeating or emotional eating.
Address Stress using Non-Food Outlets: Emotional eating often stems from stress, boredom, or unresolved emotions. Finding alternative ways to manage stress—such as journaling, engaging in gentle movement like yoga, or taking regular walks in nature—can help reduce the reliance on food for emotional comfort.
You’re not on your own
Disordered eating in post-menopausal women is more common than many realise, yet it is often overlooked in discussions about midlife health. By bringing awareness to this issue, we can begin to challenge the unrealistic expectations placed on women’s bodies and promote a healthier, more balanced approach to eating.
If you’re tired of following the latest weight loss or health trends and want to find freedom from food struggles, know that you’re not alone. There is a way to nourish your body without guilt, restriction, or obsession—one that supports not only your physical health but also your overall well-being in this next chapter of life.
Please get in touch and we can chat about how I can help.