Eating and Heating

Different things can trigger hot flashes and one of those things is the food that you eat.

Japanese Food

Japanese Food

Shortly after I first started having hot flashes, I was lucky enough to go to Japan for a holiday.  During that two weeks I ate a totally Japanese diet.  There was lots of fish, very small amounts of red meat and plenty of green tea.  I don’t think I ate any bread and hardly any sugary foods.

After a few days I noticed that I had stopped having hot flashes and night sweats.  I was enjoying the food (apart from the seaweed at breakfast!) and had lots of energy.  I thought my menopause symptoms were over!  Then I came back the UK, started to eat my usual diet and back came the hot flashes.

I recognise now that if I eat red meat it definitely heats up my system.  Some spices have a similar effect.  Food and drinks with a high temperature are likely to trigger a hot flash for me so I tend to let soup, stews and tea cool down before I start eating.

Do you know if any particular foods trigger your hot flashes?  It is worth keeping a food journal for a week so that you can become aware of trends in what you eat and drink and the symptoms you experience.  You can then decide whether to limit or eliminate certain things from your diet.

Just don’t take my chocolate away….