Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Alternative Therapies => Topic started by: Kathleen on April 02, 2022, 08:34:49 AM
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Hello ladies.
For digestive health reasons I eat a mainly plant based diet, so in effect I am vegan. I am wondering if this has any impact, good or bad, on my hormones. I suspect not as I share so many of the same experiences as other ladies here who I assume are eating a more standard diet however I don't know that for certain. I would be interested to hear about your diets ladies and if you feel that what you eat, or avoid eating is helping you during the menopause.
I look forward to reading your comments and hopefully we can all learn from each other.
Take care everyone.
K.
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Hi,
I can't be much help to you, Kathleen, sorry, as I'm actually finding I'm less tolerant to what I was tolerating, with care, pre-HRT!!!! So, that's proving to be another issue! However, yeah, B12 is pretty standard for supplementing if vegan and it's important to check for absorption, a bit like the "free" levels to assess what is actually available to use? It's possible to have "normal" or even high levels which are not "free". A test for intrinsic factor will assess your capacity to absorb. However, the theory one can have "too much" is a bit of a myth as any excess is just passed in urine. I now tolerate what little alcohol, dairy and sugars I had before almost not at all which is really interesting, but the diet I try to follow, 5:2/6:1, is a low GI (glycemic index) for slow release, therefore gentler on the systems. Hope there's something here to help. Keep us posted!
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I'm not sure diet has a direct impact on hormones it it certainly affects your health and how good you feel. Nothing works in isolation and they are so interlinked a deficiency in one thing can have a big knock on effect. Perhaps the reason your hrt doesn't seem to be working well is because something else is deficient?
If you google vegan deficiencies several come up. Would seeing a dietician help? The advice above is good, as you have digestive issues it's quite possible you're not getting what you expect from the food you're eating. Sorry I can't be much help.
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The older we get, the less able we are to absorb generally. Have you tried Vegan Digestive Enzymes? Solgar does a good one. I'm reminded, too, of my dearest friend (71) who has recently discovered she is histamine intolerant. I think this has been mentioned somewhere else here recently. She was getting extremely fatigued and low in mood, less motivated etc. She has a very considered, full spectrum diet and grows her own produce, buys locally from farms for eggs, sourdough etc. She looked at produce with histamine and discovered it was all the things she likes and that are supposed to be good for us; fermented foods, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, red wine etc etc etc! Since removing these from her diet, she sleeps well and is energised and motivated with an upbeat, optimistic mood. It's fascinating!
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Hello again ladies and thank you all for your comments.
I was thinking about talking to a nutritionist but I would need to find one that understands the pros and cons of different eating regimes. For example I favour plenty of plant food because it helps to keep my inflammatory markers low and I want to avoid eating lots of meat because it is hard to digest and I don't want a flare up of UC.
The advice I got from the hospital when I was diagnosed was so generic it was useless.
I have done a lot of reading since then so now I have more specific concerns. For example, when we eat meat our gut bacteria produce a chemical called TMA which our liver converts to TMAO and this has been implicated in many conditions such as heart disease. About two years ago an American drug company were trying to produce a medication that would block TMAO. Clearly this drug has not appeared yet but I wonder if a regular nutritionist would be up to speed on subjects like that?
Jaypo- As I understand it (and I could be wrong) calcium is a mineral mineral found in the soil and is present in plants so basically vegans get their calcium from the same place that animals do lol. I take your point though and many people worry about deficiencies which is why plant milks are usually fortified.
Postmeno3 - A while ago my doctor at Newson Health wondered if I had a histamine problem and she advised me to take a non drowsy anti histamine daily. I did this but I didn't notice any difference and I don't eat a huge amount of histamine producing foods anyway but it was worth a try.
Thanks again ladies and food for thought indeed (sorry, couldn't resist that one lol).
Take care.
K.
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Hello Kathleen, I am possibly late to helping, but as I understand it there is a myth is around eating meat and heart health that goes back to somebody called Ancel Keys who did bad science a long time ago. Many recommendations that are not from recent nutritional science just do not double check and just make money selling supplements from carrying on the myth (or they sell extreme veggie agendas :( ) . TMAO is greatest from eating fish but fish is healthy food, so why fixing on meat? We have excellent sources of nutrition in offals and red meat that help us as we change in our lives and our bodies need more easily usable nutrition.
I know how awful UC is. One of my family suffered with it for years. Have you been screened for something called h. pylori? Many people who have UC or IBS have it in their gut. Treatment works miracles :)
With best wishes :)
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Hello again ladies.
Gynaikeios - Thank you for your comments. I suspect there is something to the effects of TMAO because a pharmaceutical company were trying to develop a drug to block its actions in the body but I am no expert on the subject.
Thankfully my UC is in remission but it is a horrible condition and my heart goes out to anyone struggling with it.
Thanks again and take care.
K.
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Hello Jaypo.
I am sorry the hear that your daughter has IBD. It transpires that many of the things I eat are not recommended for UC sufferers, ie salads, uncooked fruit (the skins can be a problem apparently) and nuts and seeds. Luckily I didn't know this because I eat those foods daily without any problems.
If your daughter struggles with canned beans she might like to empty the contents into a colander a rinse under running water until the bubbles stop. This considerably reduces the flatulence factor apparently. Hope this helps.
Take care.
K.
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Hello again Jaypo.
You are welcome and I hope your daughter benefits as beans are full of protein and fibre.
I tend to be gluten free as far as possible these days. Every little helps as the say!
Take care.
K.
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Hey there!
I am a long time veggie/vegan and studied nutrition off and on, but do not have a degree so like anyones advice, take mine with a bucket of salt… oh no don’t do that, that’s bad for you ;D
Anyway! I think you can absolutely affect hormones by the way we eat, there’s some good evidence out there for it. Some of us have intolerances as mentioned so if something isn’t right with digestion I always say, keep a super detailed food diary to try and figure it out, maybe with a decent qualified person. I think you can help some menopause symptoms with a plant based diet, such as studies showing populations that consume regular but not large amounts of soy don’t get hot flushes in menopause… but I do think that whatever type of diet we eat we can still experience menopause symptoms. I’d say that clearly a poor diet, veggie or not, consisting of heavily refined foods is going to make you feel worse whatever the issue or health concern is. If you’d like more fact-based data on your original question, that website… nutrition facts with Dr Gregor or Greger? is really good and was referenced when I studied nutrition. He has some solid evidence on heart disease there, full vegans rarely get heart disease and have lower cholesterol etc and he has some great vids on women’s health issues I remember watching. Especially one on endometriosis I found really interesting about seaweed. Also, he has one comparing average deficiencies vegans have v non-vegans and we definitely have less overall deficiencies, I go by his supplement recommendations too.
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Hello again ladies.
ATB - Ah, another Dr Greger fan! I hoped I'd meet one someday. His website is excellent because it deals with the science only. I also have some of his books.
I like to think that if we eat the foods that are good for our hearts, kidneys, liver etc then they have to be good for our endocrine system as well. Things are a little tricky for me hormonally at the moment but every little helps right?
You are probably also aware of other American MDs such as Neal Barnard who have YouTube channels and published work on the importance of diet and of course there is our own Tim Spector.
Take care and wishing you well.
K.
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Thanks Katherine, it’s been awhile but I think I do remember watching things from Dr Barnard too. I did the course with Dr Campbell through Cornell some years ago and various other plant based experts were covered or did modules if I remember correctly. Yes, every little does help! Absolutely. Wishing you well too.
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Hello again ATB.
How interesting that you did a course with Colin T Campbell. I also have his book The China Study.
Did you attend Cornell for the course? If so I guess that means you are from the US which makes my earlier remark ' our own Tim Spector' look a bit silly lol.
We have ladies from all over the world pitch up on the forum which is an excellent thing and demonstrates the wide reach of the sisterhood.
Take care.
K.
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I’m in the UK now :) yes, I know of Tim Spector a little too. Haven’t had my head in nutrition stuff for awhile now though. Good to ‘meet’ someone else here interested in this.
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Changing nutrition is working well for me so it’s wonderful to read this thread! I’m not doing anything other than common sense but it took until recently to apply the basics.
I had lost sight of personal fitness goals, I didn’t want to buy bigger clothes or feel wrong on a beach. I didn’t want cellulite/sags, sounds really vain but I want to feel and look as healthy and fit as I can naturally.
Eating clean foods, strength exercise 5 hours a week, swimming and running, getting good sleep has brought good results in very little time. Initially I wouldn’t have been capable of drastic changes without HRT but now I have lowered the dose and blood work is still good.
Taken hard work but well worth it!
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Hello again ladies.
Dr Tim Spector's Zoe App has expanded to ask questions about the menopause. His last YouTube video reports that women who eat more fruit and veg have fewer and less severe meno symptoms.
Although I approve of more research into the meno I would hate medical professionals to assume that diet is the complete answer. I am still experiencing symptoms and I am post meno and eat a whole food, plant based diet, I am also aware of MM ladies who are vegan/vegetarian.
Perhaps we should inform the Zoe App of our stories? I would hate Drs to replace ' it's all in your head' with 'just eat more veg' as a treatment for the menopause.
Take care ladies.
K.
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I really doubt that would happen, it’s fairly obvious anyway that with more fruit and veg and literally any medical issue, you are more likely to experience less symptoms or severity. Same case with covid but they certainly rarely say diet and weight can prevent or lessen severity with that. It’s a part of the conversation but not an important part. Sure it’ll be the same for this. I don’t use the Zoe app but if you do the more info from women on this the better.
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Hello again ladies.
The problem of course is correlation is not causation. For example I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis the same month that I had my last period but I doubt that UC brought on my menopause, it was just a coincidence. Having said that, a healthy a diet has all sorts of benefits so you would hope that hormonal balance might be helped. I guess we will never know but the more research the better!
Take care ladies.
K.
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Yes, that’s the point of the specific research for menopause. But we do have loads of scientific evidence that fruits and vegetables lessen risk of and severity of plenty of health issues. 7 out of the top 10 causes of death are associated with diet and lifestyle. It makes sense menopause is impacted by diet too, how much we would find out with more research.
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I’m not vegetarian or vegan but I do try and eat a lot of plant based food.
My naturopath nutritionist (also qualified nurse) used to bang on to me about the importance of zinc in our diets. She said that estrogen made us high in copper and therefore is was imperative that we have zinc either in our diet or if we are on hrt with supplements.
I know little about all this but I do know plant based diets are very high in copper.
Came across this which is quite a long article but very interesting.
https://www.daimanuel.com/2017/04/28/why-vegans-should-be-worried-about-nutritional-deficiencies/
If you do start supplementing zinc you have to start low and go slow, as otherwise you will get detox symptoms from copper dumping. Also take zinc with food at night.
I’m not trying to convince anyone to change from their preferred diet but thought it would be remiss of me not to pass this information on for those who might be interested. xx
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Most vegans are a lot more careful with their diet than those who are not. You could find hundreds of articles like that to post about vegan diets but we’ve probably already read them. On average there are 3 vitamins & minerals vegans can be deficient in, calcium m, iodine and B12- if they don’t supplement it. Those who are not vegan are typically deficient in calcium, iodine and 5 others. Zinc doesn’t seem to be a huge issue for vegans if you look at the studies. The article linked is a hit piece written by a ‘wellness coach’ not a RD and includes the silly myth that soy mimics estrogen. This is simply an unscientific opinion piece. If it worries anyone I would encourage you to look at the studies on the issues with copper, as they are only an issue for those who eat a high saturated fat diet and high cholesterol in combination with a diet high in copper. Organ meats and shellfish have the highest level of copper.
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Open access, peer reviewed
https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/51098
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https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/30/hormone-use-causes-zinc-deficiency
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What is it that you think those studies are saying about vegan diets? They’re about zinc deficiency and hormones? The article you posted had all kinds of myths and stuff about vegan diets by someone who is not trained and who lacked citations. It’s just an opinion piece.
Vegans aren’t at higher risk of a zinc deficiency. Those who eat a diet high in sat fat AND copper are. Vegan diets don’t have a lot more of either.
I don’t think this thread is about defending plant based diets in general though. I think it’s about how people feel their diet has or hasn’t helped menopause isn’t it?
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Your body usually excretes excess copper via the liver sending it out in bile. Unless you have Wilson’s disease.
This is a good NIH article on Copper. Excess copper is rare. It mostly occurs through drinking water that is coming through copper pipes and household plumbing. There are issues around deficiency and one of the 4 groups at risk of this are those taking zinc.
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Copper-HealthProfessional/
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Dear ATB
I’m not attacking people who eat plant based diets, I’m only passing on some information for people to make of what they choose.
I haven’t looked for research showing if a plant based diet is higher in copper, but I would have thought the ladies who are on a plant based diet will perhaps think it is an avenue they should look into for themselves. Then if they find that’s the case they may wish to supplement.
Certainly I know that over farming has depleted our soils of zinc and that’s an area I have done research on.
Yes indeed excess copper is excreted by bile. But that of course is another issue for people with GI issues.
The zinc, copper ratio has been quite well researched and members will be able to look into that as well if they wish.
The more we question the more we learn! X
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But you didn’t just post an opinion piece on zinc and excess copper ( a complete non-issue ). It was an article attacking plant based diets in various ways, without any scientific analysis or by a person with expertise. You can’t just post random advice to vegans if it’s poorly sourced. You said you knew plant based diets were ‘ very high in copper’ below? But they’re not. That’s categorically false. It’s not something vegans need to worry about, or anyone really. Randomly testing for excess copper when it isn’t really a thing, deficiency is, is a waste of money- they won’t do this on the NHS. Zinc supplements increase risk of copper deficiency, which is more common.
I understand you’re not attacking us and apologies if I implied you were. The article is attacking the diet and your info is wrong so for me that’s a problem when you share info that worries people unnecessarily. If you don’t really know about it, why put it out there?
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Ok, some of your points I except. The article is attacking the diet but not me.
But my extremely well qualified naturopath nutritionist was adamant on this point hence my statement that ‘plant based diets are very high in copper’.
I might not ‘really know about it’ as you say, but I’m still able surely ATB to pass on information for people to do their own research.
Perhaps I should have started a zinc thread, but tried that once and nobody responded.
X
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My Meno Dr at Newson Health said if you take hrt you must make sure you take a good amount of vitamin C, B6 and Zinc. Presumably because somehow hrt depletes them. Not sure how... Anyhow, just had a nice rare steak so maybe that's the zinc sorted!
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236225258_Effect_of_vegetarian_diets_on_zinc_status_A_systematic_review_and_meta-analysis_of_studies_in_humans
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You can post whatever you like, but then if it’s something like this then you’re going to get a response that takes issue with wildly false information being shared. Your naturopath nutritionist may have her opinions but if you don’t do a quick check about those statements before sharing then I do think it’s irresponsible. Even randomly posting studies is unhelpful if you haven’t any training about how to interpret them.
Imagine if every time vegan members saw people post about the animal foods they eat we posted things like that?
I’m not offended and I hope I don’t come across grumpy at you personally, you are a marvellous help to me with menopause. But I do feel strongly that we should check info like this or even don’t share things you don’t understand well enough, and I do tire of people ‘helpfully’ posting random opinion pieces for vegans benefit. We don’t get to do it back.
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A meta analysis. Did you read the whole page? And links?
“ Zinc deficiency is not any more commonly seen in vegetarians than in non-vegetarians [277]. Zinc intake and serum levels for adolescent and adult vegetarians in developed countries are the same or slightly lower than for omnivores, but within the normal range [214,231,275,278,279]. In developing countries, vegans and vegetarians are more likely to show marginal zinc status [278] “
A meta analysis is useful but without details of the population studies you don’t understand much.
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Hi ATB
I’m extremely sorry that you and I have got into this ridiculous disagreement. Likewise, you have been beyond helpful to me with all my thyroid queries and for that I am extremely grateful.
You criticised my first article posted on this issue for not having citations, but then when I post any scientific papers you criticise those too.
You are quite happy to say that it’s ‘categorically false’ that plant base diets are high in copper but offer no scientist papers/citations to back this statement up. I made no criticism of this, why should I, that’s not what this forum is about.
So are you really saying that none of us should post studies unless we have the knowledge to interpret them?In which case none of us can post articles on here at all, according to you.
None of us on here are scientist’s, we’re all just women trying to make the best of a situation we’ve found ourselves in.
I admire you a lot ATB for you knowledge on many issues and your helpful advice to so many people.
But I do think you could have taken a kinder approach to me and my posts in this thread as it makes me feel that I should not be giving any input into, what should be after all, a friendly discussion among friends.
That’s me done on this thread x
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Are you being kind now? I think not.
I don’t typically post studies because most can’t interpret them. Also because it’s not up to me to disprove your assertions. You don’t provide any evidence plant based diets are high in copper. I provided a good clear article including citations from a reliable source, the US national institute of health, about copper. If you read the entire thing you’ll see it includes all the points about copper, the original issue raised, that I made.
I criticised the citations because they weren’t relevant to the point you were originally making and didn’t say what you claimed. I don’t think it’s wrong to criticise any of the links when the criticism is valid. Once you’ve offered them up then it’s open to criticism.
Yes it’s frustrating to get into a disagreement like this. But it started when you posted a really long and myth-laden opinion piece about vegan diets which wasn’t what this thread was about. Vegans get a lot of stuff like this thrown at them and I think it should be expected someone with some training in nutrition who is also vegan responds to it, especially as it was lengthy and so wrong. While we share here, it’s my opinion that posting misinformation, that is easily refuted by going to reliable sources of nutrition info, isn’t something that should happen in this context. Anyone else is free to completely disagree and argue their position too.
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When the penny dropped that all the awful symptoms were hormonal and I started HRT I didn’t realise that one symptom would be difficult to solve. I was left with self doubt. My confidence was in pieces due to worrying that the wheels would fall off again. I didn’t feel confident in committing to socials for fear of being ill again and letting people down.
Changing nutrition, lifestyle and exercise gave me the confidence back, the changes put the spring into the step that HRT made possible.
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Hi Kathleen and others
I actually really don't know. My daughter is a lifelong veggie (now vegan), and it's all a bit strange as me and her dad are meat eaters, but from weaning onwards she just wouldn't touch stuff that wasn't mainly plant-based. Two things I've noticed (purely anecdotal): since she moved back home a couple of years ago, we've all pretty much been following the same diet (high protein plant-based), and we're generally more chipper. It seems to take care of some issues, such as bloating, sluggishness, upsydownsy moods - not entirely, but we've noticed an improvement; on the other hand, said daughter has PMDD (diagnosed by the GP) and we're not sure of dietary effect because she's always been veggie (and vegan for the last 10 years or something) and so we haven't got anything to measure the symptoms against, if that makes sense. She might be worse (god knows what that would look like) if she was a meat eater, there's no telling.
My wild assumption about all of this is that if you get a good baseline health (less carbs, reduction in refined sugar, watch your caffeine intake, etc), then you're more likely to be able to withstand the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (hormones). I believe (with no evidence whatsoever) that this is probably easier to achieve if you're eating 'consciously' - which (from experience) it would seem most vegans do as they're constantly having to think about how they're going to source the right food, get all the nutrients needed, find the time to cook, etc. It makes a slack sense to me that the body would respond according to the fuel it's provided.
I would also say though that I casually subscribe to the blood group eating diet idea - partly because it was the only thing that really explained why kiddo wouldn't touch meat (she's A type). Happy to admit this might be total hippy tosh. Don't much care.
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Hello again ladies.
I began eating plant based over a decade ago after reading Dr Michael Greger's books and looking at his YouTube site NutritionFacts.Org. Since then I have encountered many other opinions about other types of diet but I have always made up my own mind based on what I have learned and my own experiences.
I think it is a sign of progress that there is so much debate about diets and we are free to decide for ourselves how we interpret information presented to us. We can agree to disagree!
Wishing you all well ladies.
K.
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I think having the choice to tap into nutrition to achieve what we want or not is fantastic. I’m plant based due to shocking school dinners/ Mum’s lack of cooking interest but not a vegetarian.
Does anybody here grow a majority of their food or planning to? I’m trying to organise food storage through winter that’s not freezer based.
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Yes Tora, I’m growing a decent chunk of our food in a permaculture garden and planning something larger soon with a food forest. Fermenting and pickling might be worth you trying out.
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I’m doing similar ATB and loving it! Picking what I fancy, not cooking and KNOWING what’s in my food is wonderful! This summer is about calculating what I need from yields, what involvement I need from the community and what % can go commercially. I’ve discovered an asparagus patch hidden in overgrowth, unfortunately it’s 8 foot high so missed it! :(
Fermenting, pickling, canning and puréing are all needed.
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Does anybody here grow a majority of their food or planning to? I’m trying to organise food storage through winter that’s not freezer based.
You could grow things like leeks and parsnips that can stay in the ground and be dug during the winter. Personally i would stick with freezing other seasonal stuff.
and planning something larger soon with a food forest.
Interesting. I've been looking at this since you wrote this. May well experiment with it next year to get more out of our small veg patch and hopefully have less weeding ! Sweetcorn, runners and squash in combination sounds worth a try.
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I prefer freezing too but have almost filled second chest freezer!
Sweetcorn, runners and squash/courgettes/pumpkin/Melons do really well together, I put a circle of potatoes (no earthing up ) /beets around mine too.
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I've never tried it myself as I live too far north, but I'd heard that the 3 sisters combination (beans, corn, squash) doesn't grow well in the UK as our climate is so different to that of the US. Might be worth looking into this before pursuing it.
Fermenting is good, although first time I did my cucumbers I was a bit negligent of cleanliness and ended up having to compost the lot! At least it was a learning experience! Sandor Katz's books are amazing. I've experimented with all sorts of things (even fermented porridge, which is nicer than it sounds).
With fruit, I preserve it in jars (either using a water bath, or in the oven). I'm always a bit nervous about testing the seals after everything has cooled down, but if you do it properly, it's normally fine. There are excellent instructions in one of Pam Corbin's books. I've not done veggies this way though (terrified of botulism), so I tend to make krauts / kimchi / freeze (although selectively as my freezer is relatively small and we do sometimes get powercuts here).
We've got solar panels now, so I might also trying drying some fruit this year (got given a dehydrator when brother in law was downsizing). Soft fruit grows amazingly well here, so we've got more than we can eat ourselves. If I've time to pick it I try to get spare to our local community fridge, but I must admit, that often it goes to the birds.
Good luck experimenting.
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Oh Sandor Katz books are excellent! I’ve grown beans and squash/courgettes etc here in uk with no problem, I have more bean plants than I know what to do with. One of the easiest things to grow so far in the uk. I’m growing some for drying this year. Haven’t tried corn though.
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Prana, I totally get you re fear of botulism. This never worried me until I read Larry's Party by Carol Shields. Which is a great book but someone accidently kills a couple of people at her party with her canned beans!!! I realise canning is a completely different process but nevertheless it put the wind up me!
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Yes Tora, I’m growing a decent chunk of our food in a permaculture garden and planning something larger soon with a food forest. Fermenting and pickling might be worth you trying out.
This sounds brilliant, could you share how you're managing to secure such a good, reliable yield? I've been allotmenting for five years now, and crops are increasingly impacted by dry/cold months (when they should be wetter and warmer). We're usually there 2-3 times a week. This year the issue is with snails, so much rain, so much chomping at the plant outs. Even the most experienced growers have been struggling for quite a while. I was chatting to a guy who's been leading the main community allotment site in town for the past 30 years last night and he said it's been a real struggle for the past 10 or so, largely due to weather conditions. The permaculture trust in our local town also report similar. I'd love to know the secret of your success.
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?? I’m not sure what we would be doing any differently to anyone else. Check out YouTube uk gardening channels, plenty of very successful stories for you to follow that have helped us a lot. We are looking for a larger piece of land now for the food forest so that’s yet to come. My friend is in a communal permaculture plot which is v successful. Slugs and snails are hard to manage within allotments I heard, an old neighbour in London struggled more on her allotment than home garden, we were novices and had a crazy successful garden there even in pots. I don’t think I do anything special, my own compost, companion plant etc. We do it cheap, save seeds, grab stuff on freecycle or neighbours to build things… I don’t have secrets!! I think I’m quite a bad gardener but my folks grew our food too, grew up on a farm so maybe it’s in my genes!
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I grow lettuce, Choi, radish under glass to try and avoid snails but the odd one gets through. I’m no expert, very much trying to keep up with nature!
You need to like raspberries in this house and now asparagus as I cut it back and it’s re-shot and grows faster than Russian Vine!
Cherries are ripe and on today’s job list.
A lot of the glut’s here are fruit and the usual runner beans, courgette, tomatoes, potatoes later on. I’ve got quite a big bog garden and the snails totally strip the hosta’s in pots there.
I’m in London and use leaf loam as leaves are a major PITA here!
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We have a lot of frogs and toads so while we still get slugs and snails somehow so far nothing catastrophic- except the 1 year old cat won’t leave toads alone despite their venom already getting in her eye!! I haven’t protected the raised beds and we are on a farm so plenty of rabbits but so far it’s ok too. Cucamelons not as good this year but I planted some too early so fingers crossed for the current plants.
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Yeah, I think some of it is environmental conditions, we're on chalk and near the coast, plus up a mighty hill. The wind has been savage the last couple of years and I'm pretty sure the over enthusiastic rain fall has stripped the soil with run off. I agree with what you say about allotments though, it only takes a few lazy people to let theirs go to pot and the snails find the best feasting areas ... We put in some tomatoes weeks ago, and they're fine, but literally haven't grown upwards an inch. Even the hedging that we're trying to cultivate for wind protection (hawthorn and blackthorn) is only properly taking off where it's sheltered by neighbour's sheds.
On the upside, bumper strawberry 🍓 crop this year, lots of wild kale, globe artichokes are doing ok and the frog 🐸 zone seems to be progressing.
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I love listening to the frogs at night.
Very jealous about globe artichokes, I planted a big patch and I’m sure they’re Cardoon’s :(
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Our tomatoes have too many leaves, I think too much fermented nettle fertiliser. But we’re getting lots of flowers now so think they’re ok. I put them in different areas and grow 3-4 varieties. The yellow pear are quite tall already. I spent large parts of my life living by the sea and it is harder IMO to grow veges. My grandparents had an orchard near the coast and things like rhubarb did well. I have a lot of issues in the garden but somehow it does ok, I’ve got the time and the space to get to it every morning and evening and then a big part of the weekend. We are clearing a lot of overgrown stuff at the moment, so much nettle!
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We're also letting some teasel grow to encourage birds with seeds and water drinking leaves - fun hope that the ravens will eat the snails.
We've been fertilising with pony pooh, also nettles and comfrey, plus we do kind of ok with compost. And we've finally managed to get the sorrel to self seed. Bizarrely, the herbs are doing pretty well, lemon verbena, etc. Raspberries seem happy, and a couple of apple trees, the rhubarb is quite jolly. I suppose I miss my toms, courgettes and butternut squashes. I also forgot to plant beetroot this year.
On a slightly different note, has anyone tried the plant paradox?
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Nettles are our easiest compost but are a huge problem that I am trying to love instead of control with a strimmer! This year I’m trying to concentrate on plants that don’t need watering/too much care as trying to sort out tree planting/boundary/access. I’ve set up a few swaps on a pick it yourself basis so that less fruit is wasted/ we get veg in return but I regret not doing courgettes/squash too!
Years ago I tried to grow on Harris, the wind was a problem, nothing grew over a foot high or past flower stage :(
Not tried Paradox, looks interesting, are you growing them? I’m not great with house plants other than palms/cacti.
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Our tomatoes have too many leaves,
Do you pinch out the side shoots where the side branches meet the main stem ? Less energy then goes into producing leaves.
My 90 year old neighbour is a plantsman and gave us a variety called Akron one year which we planted outside and got a high yield. A large red flavoursome tomato.
I'm trying to encourage grandchildren to garden. I had a nice 'soup' in a china bowl last week of water, nasturtium leaves and chopped up raw broad bean !
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Minusminnie, yes thank you I do, I pinch the suckers but it’s just got too much nitrogen and so you end up with more main leaves and less flowers. We seem to have pulled them back though! Getting more flowers now.
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Hello ladies.
For digestive health reasons I eat a mainly plant based diet, so in effect I am vegan. I am wondering if this has any impact, good or bad, on my hormones. I suspect not as I share so many of the same experiences as other ladies here who I assume are eating a more standard diet however I don't know that for certain. I would be interested to hear about your diets ladies and if you feel that what you eat, or avoid eating is helping you during the menopause.
I look forward to reading your comments and hopefully we can all learn from each other.
Take care everyone.
K.
My diet is mainly plant based, I do like eggs, but feel bad eating them. Fried eggs.
So, yeah, I am mostly vegan, meds excluded.
I never thought about hormones.
I get a bit pi$$ed off with checking what interacts with what, as I am weaning off valium, and when I used to stick to "foods-you should-eat-when-weaning-off-benzodiazepines" it was such a hassle I gave up, some foods like spices make valium stay in the system, some veggies make it leave the system, - tangent over :D
I guess we could google "vegan" + "menopause" I might add it to my list of web searches.
I eat a lot of ready meals, fake meats (I love those, with nice bread and vegan mayo/salad cream) nuts, I used eat avocados, until I realised cartels ran them. I should eat more fruit, but I do drink fruit smoothies, I love Tescos naked one, it's dear, but not if you dilute it, you can get five bottles of tasty fruit drink for the price of one by adding water.
I became lazy in summer, with the heat, eating lots of sandwiches.
Today's food was one of those ciabattas with Marg, then a black bean and seitan ready meal and another ciabatta with Marg, not too healthy. I have vitamins and supplements, and of course, the hrt, I can't wait to come off hrt.
PS, yeah B12 once a day. I read megadosing with that helps depression but I never tried it and didn't read enough to comment.