MenuPause: Five Unique Eating Plans to Break Through Your Weight Loss Plateau and Improve Mood, Sleep, and Hot Flashes

by Anna Cabeca

More than 125 detoxifying and hormone-healing recipes to reduce the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, from the bestselling author of The Hormone Fix and Keto-Green 16   “Dr. Cabeca shows us how to take charge of our health in midlife, using the power of food to start feeling better—and find optimal weight, improved mood and more energy along the way!”—Izabella Wentz, PharmD, New York Times bestselling author of Hashimoto’s Protocol A major hormonal shift in every woman’s life, menopause heralds a time of new freedoms, potential, and empowerment. But this necessary shift often also brings with it uncomfortable symptoms like brain fog, reduced libido, joint pain, constipation, and hot flashes. And even while eating and exercising as usual, most menopausal women also experience frustrating weight gain—in and of itself a symptom that can make the other symptoms worse. We seldom make the connection between what we eat and how it affects our hormones. But food is a direct hormone regulator, so when hormones shift, we must shift as well. Choosing ingredients wisely is the best way to reduce all your symptoms, including that frustrating weight gain. Drawing inspiration from the cuisines of countries where women experience fewer menopausal symptoms, Dr. Anna Cabeca offers five unique, six-day eating plans that put a “pause” on the use of symptom-exacerbating ingredients. Depending on your health goals and the symptoms you’re experiencing, choose from these five  • The Keto-Green Extreme Plan pauses inflammatory foods but includes stomach-soothing alkaline ingredients for an overall reduction in menopause symptoms. • Keto-Green Plant-Based Detox pauses animal proteins to stoke your fat-burning metabolism, ease hot flashes, and reduce brain fog. • The Carbohydrate Pause puts a temporary pause on all carbohydrates and sugar to help you break through a weight loss plateau, sleep better, and combat bloating. • The Keto-Green Cleanse briefly pauses solids to gently restore and energize you at the cellular level, leading to greater energy, less joint pain, and less constipation. • The Carbohydrate Modification Plan is the perfect feasting plan, allowing for the reintroduction of healthy but gluten-free carbohydrates to reduce restriction fatigue and maintain metabolic flexibility. With more than 125 delicious recipes—many of which fit more than just one eating plan—MenuPause is your guide to a more comfortable menopausal transition, and ensures you won’t go hungry in the process!

Genres: Health, Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 12, 2022

Reviews

[Edith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful Cookbook written by The Girlfriend Doctor!
MenuPause is a beautiful collection of menu plans designed to help women manage the dreaded hormonal imbalances of menopause! I love the way the author, Dr Anna, “The Girlfriend Doctor”, peppers in much more than recipes. More than a cookbook, MenuPause is the third book from Dr Anna that proves to be required reading for women who want to find that “second spring” after Menopause! Thank you, Dr Anna!

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been working my way through the recipes on the keto green extreme diet plan, as I have MS. I was already on Wahl's Protocol, so the switch wasn't huge, but I can't imagine someone coming from a standard diet of takeout and pre-packaged food. This would be a huge transition for most people, an almost impossible task.

I will start off by saying that the food is surprisingly delicious, especially considering there are really no sauces used and minimal spices. Aside from the occasional printing error (ingredients on the list that actually don't belong in the dish, plus pages where the paragraphs didn't meet up), there are many dishes we would absolutely make again, even when not on a keto diet. Even my 16yo son loved them, which if you have teen boys, you know this is really saying something. High praise indeed!

BUT... like anyone who is buying this book, I was more concerned about how it would help my perimenopause symptoms. Well, not great, I'm afraid. Yes, I lost weight, about five pounds for the week, which I'm not sad about, and I saw improvement to skin and hair. But because this diet plan has quite a few restrictions, I ended up cutting out my phytoestrogens that I've been consciously eating for the past year. Quite quickly my joint pain flared up again, as did my night sweats and disrupted sleep.

ALSO... since I have an autoimmune disease, I have notoriously low energy. Just comes with the territory. And these meals include way more prep than I can physically handle all by myself seven days a week. It does come with a meal plan, telling you which dishes you should make, eliminating the "what will I make for dinner" dilemma. And it also includes an almost two-page shopping list for all the ingredients you'll need (because yeah, a ton of this stuff isn't something I ever keep in my fridge, like fennel bulb or celeriac). But I ran into an issue when my husband got sick and couldn't help me for three days. Would've been nice if there were some shortcuts that could be suggested, like using coleslaw mix instead of whole head of cabbage and carrot. I wish I'd thought of that ahead of time.

I'm thinking about switching over to one of the other keto plans to see if that helps with my symptoms any more than this particular plan. And also, I miss dessert, so I will be checking out the dessert recipes next.

Note to add: If you're worried about still being hungry, it's really not a concern. The portion sizes are huge. The recipes say 2 servings, but it comfortably feeds three in our household.

Note to also add: I'm really disappointed that the recipes don't give a carb total for a serving, considering to stay in keto, you need to remain under 50g of carbs a day. I'm really not in the mood to calculate how much I'm eating.

[Nancy Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. I enjoyed the information presented. I haven't actually tried any of the plans yet so I can't say whether they work or not. I had a few issues with the way the book was organized (i.e., I think all the other culture data should have been placed in it's own section; the recipes for each plan should have been arranged directly after the explanation of that particular plan, and I'd love to know where to buy certain products mentioned other than the author's own products). Otherwise, I liked the book.

[Ann-Marie DeStefano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave three stars to Dr. Cabecas “The Hormone Fix” because I became overwhelmed by it. Having heard the author on a podcast, I found myself very interested in her solutions to menopause problems. This newer book present her solutions in a pared down, simpler to follow way. It’s a beautiful book to boot, with lots of delicious sounding recipes. Looking forward to trying out one of her five plans.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with suggestions on the change.

[Dawn W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sound advice and easy to follow six day meal plans to get you back on track and through menopause.

[Tiena Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not rave ENOUGH about this cookbook!
Dr. Anna not only breaks down what to eat, she explains why as well. How certain foods are inflammatory, and others are healing, which foods have what affects on the body, and then she puts all the good stuff into recipes. Gives you the shopping list for each week, gives you the instructions on how to make the food, and there are even pictures of a good amount of the meals (for those of us that are visual).

Written for women in their “40’s & beyond” who are in Peri- or actual menopause, the foods she lays out in each 6-day plan are meant to combat symptoms we deal with at this stage of life. And trust me- they do.;-)
I did the “6 day keto-green cleanse” plan and lost 10 lbs that week! (And no, it was not just water weight, fat cells shrank and the healing foods in the recipes clean out the gut as well!)

If you are coming into or in the midst of menopause, I highly recommend this book, it’s a life changer!

[Jarteaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

The unintentional impact of this books is confirmation that the body is complicated and you shouldn't be your own doctor making guesses. I did get some ideas for recipes from the second half of the book. Although eating "healthy" is defined by the individual, reading different books and seeing where they overlap is helpful.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Want to try the Egg Roll Soup Bowl, the Golden Cabbage Chickpea Soup, and the Wild Rice Pilaf recipes.

[Lisa Hoppe]

I only skim cookbooks so I didn’t want it to count toward my reading goal. I put it on my DNF so I at least know that I’ve looked at it.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciated the front info and got some good recipes. Keto is too drastic but would consider including the recipes in a new eating program.

[Wendopolis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't followed any of the plans but have made several of the recipes and liked them.

[Denielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so excited to give this a try

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good explanation in the beginning of what to eat to help symptoms of menopause. Some good recipes too.

[Katy]

Not for me, and more importantly not a very well put together book. Publishing error put several pages out of order so it was hard to follow.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first diet that has worked for me while also not being impossible to navigate with my husband who is lactose intolerant and my picky senior in high school. Noticed immediate improvement in my inflammation.

Recipes do require some initial experimentation to find what works for you in terms of prep and eating while away from home.

But all in all, I love that it’s written by an OB-GYN who has an actual understanding of what is going on in a woman’s body in perimenopause and menopause.

[Venus Espindola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible information on health and well-being for MenuPause fir the new buzzword MenuPause!

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure this would be great for some people but it is not for me. A lot of the recipes had ingredients I can't have.

[Sienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skimmed. Nicely organized but not for me.