Women and healthy eating
Trying to balance the family demands and work or school – and also dealing with media pressure to look and eat a certain way – can make it difficult for any woman to maintain a diet. healthy. But the right food can not only improve your mood, increase your energy, and help you maintain a healthy weight, it can also help you through the different stages of a woman’s life.
As women, many of us often tend to neglect our own dietary needs. You may find that you are too busy to eat well or used to putting your family’s needs before your own. Or maybe you are trying to stick to an extreme diet that leaves you short on essential nutrients and you feel cranky, hungry, and low on energy.
The specific needs of women are also often overlooked by dietary research. Nutrition studies tend to rely on male subjects whose hormone levels are more expected and stable, sometimes making the results irrelevant or even misleading to the needs of women. All of this can lead to serious deficiencies in your daily diet.
While what works best for one woman may not always be the good choice for another, the essential thing is to build your diet around your vital nutritional needs. Whether you are looking to boost fertility, combat stress or PMS, improve your energy and mood, enjoy a healthy pregnancy, or relieve menopause symptoms, these nutritional tips can help you stay healthy, active and vibrant throughout your life.
How women’s nutritional needs differ from men’s
As children, the food needs of boys and girls are broadly similar. But when puberty begins, women begin to develop unique nutritional needs. And as we age and our bodies undergo more and more physical and hormonal changes, our nutritional needs continue to change, so it’s important that our diets evolve to meet these changing needs.
While women tend to have fewer calories than men, our requirements for certain minerals and vitamins are much higher. Hormonal changes associated with childbearing, menopause and menstruation mean that women have a great risk of anemia, osteoporosis and weakened bones, requiring a higher intake of nutrients such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin D and vitamin B9 (folate).
Calcium for strong bones throughout life
Among other things, you need calcium to build healthy bones and teeth, keep them strong as you age, regulate your heart rate, and keep your nervous system functioning properly. Calcium deficiency can lead to or worsen mood problems such as irritability, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances. If you don’t get enough calcium in your diet, your body will soak calcium from your bones to support normal cell function, which can lead to osteoporosis or weakened bones. Women are at a greater risk than men of developing osteoporosis, so getting plenty of calcium, in combination with magnesium and vitamin D, is important to support bone health.
