Hot Flashes From The Kitchen Many Recipes Can Help Women Who Are Entering Menopause Years
Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you what you are.
Actually, the saying went this way when 19th-century French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin originally penned it: Dis-moi ce que tu manges, et je dirai ce que tu es.
OK, Jean. I eat soy.
Can you tell from my diet that I’m a femme d’un certain age, that is, a woman of a certain age? A woman whose ovaries are considering retirement? A woman hungry for estrogen?
Je suis soy.
In Spanish: Soy soy.
In English: I am soy, hear me roar.
The rate of baby boomers entering menopause — more than 4,000 women a day in the United States and Canada — has provoked a spate of menopause cookbooks. Trying recipes from three of the books lately, I’ve discovered some delicious ways to increase phytoestrogens in my meals — some with soy, some without.
Phytoestrogens present in foods such as soy appear to mimic estrogen, and are reputed to prevent hot flashes, anxiety, lack of concentration and the urge to speak French that may accompany menopause, a natural stage in a woman’s life. They act as a stand-in for the hormones the ovaries produced so effortlessly before declaring their desire to play bridge instead.
Maybe I’m experiencing the placebo effect that comes from doing something good for myself, but I think phytoestrogens work. Want more evidence? Japanese women don’t have hot flashes, and they eat soy.
You don’t need a new cookbook to add phytoestrogens to your diet. Try soy milk. The vanilla-flavored stuff in the supermarket dairy case isn’t too bad. I add it to coffee, making a menopause no-no (caffeine can trigger hot flashes) into a menopause well-maybe. I use it instead of regular milk on cold cereal. I buy calcium-enriched soy milk to ensure I’m still getting the bone-building benefits of milk that are so recherche among us femmes d’un certain age.
Sour on soy milk? Try one of these recipes from the new menopause cookbooks. The marinated tofu with citrus salad got raves from my reading group. My friends enjoyed the salad’s unusual flavors: kicky watercress, pungent garlic and sweet orange. One woman tried the recipe again, substituting spinach for watercress with good results.
Soy isn’t the only food source for phytoestrogens. Berries, oats, sunflower seeds and tomatoes are others.
One can go too far with soy, however. In the heat of my soy craze, I bought a special soy margarine at Huckleberry’s Fresh Market. Patting myself on the back for my nutritional genius, I got home and compared the product’s label to my regular margarine. You guessed it: The exact ingredients stared back at me from both plastic tubs.
As Jean-Anthelme might have said, c’est la vie.
Marinated Tofu with Citrus Salad
From “Eat to Beat Menopause” by Linda Kearns (Thorsons, 1999).
2 cups tofu
2 large oranges
1 bunch watercress
For the dressing:
2 cloves garlic, crushed
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Drain the tofu and cut into bite-sized pieces. Place these in a shallow dish in one layer.
Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Pour over the tofu cubes and set aside to marinate for a good 30 minutes before serving.
Meanwhile peel and segment the oranges. Cut the segments in half and put in a serving bowl along with any juice released by cutting. Chop the watercress and stir into the orange segments.
Top with the marinated tofu and serve.
Yield: 4 servings.
Nutritional information per serving: 152 calories, 6 grams fat (47 percent fat calories), 12 grams protein, 16 grams carbohydrate, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 3 grams dietary fiber, 675 milligrams sodium.
Garbanzos With Garlic and Kale
From “The Menopause Diet Mini Meal Cookbook” by Larrian Gillespie (Healthy Life, 1999).
2 bunches kale or collard greens
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon minced gingerroot
1 red chili pepper, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, including liquid
1 teaspoon reduced sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
Wash the kale, remove the stems and chop the leaves.
Heat oil in a large skillet and saute the garlic, gingerroot and pepper for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and garbanzo beans with their liquid. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the soy sauce and hoisin sauce and stir. Spread the kale evenly over the top, then cover the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the kale is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Do not overcook.
Yield: 6 servings.
Nutritional information per serving: 122 calories, 2 grams fat (15 percent fat calories), 6 grams protein, 22 grams carbohydrate, less than 1 milligram cholesterol, 4 grams dietary fiber, 345 milligrams sodium.
Curried Chicken and Bok Choy
From “The Menopause Cookbook - How to Eat Now and for the Rest of Your Life” by Dr. Hope Ricciotti and Vincent Connelly (W.W. Norton, 2000).
5 teaspoons canola oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 (1-inch) piece gingerroot, peeled and sliced
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons curry powder, divided
3 tablespoons water
8 ounces silken tofu
sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
8 ounces bok choy, trimmed, stems sliced diagonally into 3/4-inch thick pieces and leaves coarsely chopped
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a skillet over low heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until soft and fragrant. Add the onion to the pan and cook until soft.
Add 1 tablespoon of the curry powder to the skillet and cook the ingredients for 2 minutes longer, stirring often. Add the water to the skillet and remove from the heat.
Transfer ingredients to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process ingredients until smooth. Add tofu and process ingredients until a smooth sauce forms. Season with sea salt and black pepper and set aside.
Heat 2 more teaspoons of oil in the skillet over high heat. Toss the chicken with the sea salt, black pepper and the remaining tablespoon of curry powder. When the oil is hot, add the chicken breast to the skillet. Cook the chicken until golden, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a plate.
Heat the remaining teaspoon of oil in the pan over high heat. When it is hot, add the bok choy. Cook the bok choy for three minutes, stirring often.
Add the chicken broth to the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the bok choy until tender. Return the chicken to the skillet. Stir the curry-tofu sauce into the skillet. Season with sea salt and black pepper.Serve with rice.
Yield: 4 servings.
Nutritional information per serving: 280 calories, 14 grams fat (45 percent fat calories), 30 grams protein, 8 grams carbohydrate, 69 milligrams cholesterol, 3 grams dietary fiber, 285 milligrams sodium.
This sidebar appeared with the story:
PHYTOESTROGENS
Studies have shown that Japanese women have fewer hot flashes during menopause than North American women. Researchers think their phytoestrogen-rich diets may get the credit.
The best sources of phytoestrogens are soy foods and flaxseed, according to “The Menopause Cookbook” by gynecologist Hope Ricciotti and chef Vincent Connelly (W.W. Norton, 2000). Soy foods include soy milk, tofu, texturized vegetable protein and tempeh. Flaxseed flour can be added to bread doughs and other baked goods.
“Eat to Beat Menopause” by Linda Kearns (Thorsons, 1999) lists the following foods rich in phytoestrogens:
Cereals: oats, barley, rye, brown rice, couscous, bulgur wheat, polenta, buckwheat.
Seeds: sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, poppy, celery, golden linseeds.
Fruit: berries, citrus, red grapes, raisins, cherries, plums, pomegranates, watermelon.
Beans: soy, chickpeas, kidney beans, mung, fava.
Vegetables: red onions, green beans, celery, sweet peppers, sage, garlic, broccoli and tomato.