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What should you eat during menopause?

Answered by The Midlife Feast with Jenn Salib Huber RD ND · Sep 17, 2026

The short answer from dietitian and naturopathic doctor Jenn Salib Huber, host of The Midlife Feast, is to add rather than subtract. Instead of cutting out carbs, sugar or whole food groups, focus on adding protein, fiber, calcium and omega-3s to meals you already enjoy. It's a way of eating for menopause that supports your health without turning food into a full-time job.

Start with two questions at every meal

Jenn's core practice is simple enough to use at lunch today. Before you eat, ask two questions: what do I want, and what do I need?

The first question is about attunement. After years of diet rules, a lot of women in midlife have lost touch with what they actually feel like eating. Answering it honestly is the first step to getting that back.

The second question is where nutrition comes in, but as information rather than a rule. Maybe you need something that will keep you full until dinner. Maybe you've been low on energy in the afternoons. Maybe you've had a busy week with little in the way of vegetables. The host explains that the answer to "what do I need" points to something you can add to the plate, not something you have to take off it.

Put the two answers together and you get a meal that satisfies you and does something useful for your body. Neither question overrides the other.

The four things worth adding in midlife

Jenn names the nutrients that come up most often when she works with women in perimenopause and menopause.

Protein. Adding protein to a meal is the most reliable way to feel full for longer, and it supports the muscle that becomes harder to hold onto as estrogen drops. Think of it as something to put on the plate: eggs at breakfast, Greek yogurt as a snack, beans or fish at dinner.

Fiber. Fiber helps with digestion, blood sugar and satiety. Jenn frames it as worth doing because it supports your health, not because it makes you smaller. Fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes cover it.

Calcium. Bone density declines faster after menopause, so calcium from dairy, fortified plant milks, tofu or leafy greens deserves a spot on the list.

Omega-3s. Oily fish, walnuts, chia and flax are the easy sources.

None of these come with a number attached in the episode, and that's deliberate. The point is to look at a meal and ask which of the four is missing, then add it.

"Adding protein to your plate is going to help you to feel full."

Measure the results with something other than a scale

If you're not tracking weight, how do you know the changes are working? Jenn suggests watching outcomes you can actually feel. Do you have steady energy through the morning after a balanced breakfast? Is digestion better? Are you getting stronger in the gym? Do meals keep you satisfied instead of leaving you hunting for snacks an hour later?

The host explains that these signals show up within days or weeks, which is much faster than any change on the scale, and they tell you something useful about whether the food is doing its job. If you add protein to breakfast and notice you're not ravenous by ten, that's your evidence. Keep doing it.

This also removes the trap where a healthy choice only counts if your body changes. You don't need to earn the right to eat well by shrinking first.

Keep it easy or it won't last

The last piece of Jenn's advice is about effort. Midlife is busy. Many of her listeners are managing careers, aging parents and teenagers at the same time as their own symptoms. A nutrition approach that requires tracking every gram or prepping seven days of meals is going to collapse under that load.

So she keeps it small. Add one thing to one meal. Buy the pre-cooked lentils. Keep frozen berries and tinned fish around so the fiber and omega-3s are easy. Let breakfast be the same most days if that's what makes it happen.

Jenn describes this as the middle ground between dieting and giving up. You're not following rules, and you're not ignoring your health either. You're using what you know about nutrition as a guide, adding what helps, and letting the rest be easy.

People also ask

Do I need to cut out sugar or carbs in menopause?

Jenn's approach doesn't call for cutting anything. She argues that restriction fuels the diet cycle, and that adding protein and fiber to meals does more for energy and fullness than removing carbs.

How much protein should a woman over 40 eat?

The episode doesn't give a number on purpose. The practical advice is to make sure each meal has a clear protein source and to notice whether it keeps you satisfied until the next meal.

Can this approach help with menopause weight gain?

Jenn deliberately shifts the goal away from weight and toward how you feel and function. Eating enough protein and fiber often improves appetite control, but the aim is health and ease rather than a smaller body.

Based on the episode "Day 4: Add, Don't Subtract - A Better Way to Think About Menopause Nutrition" from The Midlife Feast with Jenn Salib Huber, published August 31, 2026.