Hot flashes are a difficult symptom of menopause. We feel the flush coming on as we start to suddenly feel hot which then makes us turn red and start sweating profusely. Hot flashes can be caused as our bodies transition from making estrogen in the ovaries to the adrenal glands as we go through menopause. However, there is a correlation between insulin resistance and hot flashes. and you can reduce the number of hot flashes you have by reducing the your blood glucose spikes.
Studies show that there is a correlation between insulin resistance and hot flashes. In case you aren’t familiar with insulin resistance, this happens over time as you continue to spike your blood glucose. Insulin is the hormone that opens up the cells so you can use glucose for fuel, but when we constantly spike our blood glucose, it spikes our insulin to take care of the glucose. Over time our cells stop responding as well to insulin or as sometimes is the case, our pancreas can no longer keep up with the demands of the amounts of insulin we need. This creates insulin resistance which can lead to many diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, alzheimer's and more.
If you would like to reduce your hot flashes by reducing your insulin resistance here are six simple tips to follow:
1.Eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up.
2. Eat a high protein, savory breakfast.
3. Do not drink coffee on an empty stomach
4. Focus on high protein meals with fewer carbohydrates
5. Reduce caffeine and sugar.
6. Walk for 10-20 minutes after your largest meal
Caffeine, sugar, and carbohydrate heavy meals work against us by spiking our blood glucose which then spikes our insulin levels. We can reduce insulin spikes, thus the insulin resistance by reducing these types of food from our diet. When we reduce our insulin spikes we can reduce hot flashes and have many other improvements such as less mood swings, more energy and even weight loss.
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Iliodromiti S, Sattar N, Delles C, Nelson SM, Gill JMR, Lumsden M. Menopausal hot flashing and endothelial function in two vascular beds: findings from a cross-sectional study of postmenopausal women. Menopause. 2019 Sep;26(9):1002-1009. doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001386. PMID: 31453962.