Deliciously Healthy Menopause

Deliciously Healthy Menopause is an informative book about aging, nutrition, and health. It offers a good overview of what happens to bodies during this stage of life, and the options people have for having the most pleasant and healthiest experience. The delicious looking recipes will inspire many to reconnect with their kitchens.

Severine Menem is fairly well known and is a registered Nutritional Therapist and Health Coach for women over 40 struggling with menopause symptoms. One of her initiatives is to break the taboo around menopause and thus the title of the book :)

She expends a lot of energy articulating current menopause culture and I believe that sets that the tone of the book and will put many women at ease. She says, "Menopause can make you feel less in control of your body and mind—cooking delicious and nutritious food to prioritize your well-being is a powerful way to reclaim some of that lost sense of self. "

The book itself includes nutrition plans to supplement or supplant medication that you may be taking to mediate menopausal symptoms. The second half of the book are 80+ recipes incorporating the nutritional components. There is a broad variety of simple and complex recipes which include vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options.

As a vegetarian, there were some recipes that I could not test. But I hope someone does try the "Black Olive and Tuna Cake' as that looks delicious! The recipes are not listed in the contents, rather divided by breakfast, entrees and so on. I did love Beet chips, Magical Kale Salad and Mushroom and Thyme Oatmeal (although not for breakfast).

This is a helpful book including all that you will need to know about menopause and nutrition. It would be a great gift for a friend and the recipes themselves are quite beautiful. I would recommend this great book to anyone over 40 :) #NetGalley #DKPublishing

A guide to a not so fun part of life but it sorts it out for you. First part pretty much breaks down menopause and the symptoms then it gives you some Mediterranean type recipes to navigate eating well.

I’ll be honest… very few Mediterranean recipes look appealing even though I know it’s the best for you. We have a McDonald’s on every corner not Mediterranean restaurant… tempeh, tofu, or chickpea. I’ve never ate it so I have no idea what it’s supposed to taste like… let alone make it at home.

Still there’s some good information in here and the basics you can still try. I love a good matcha tea, and eating more protein vegetables and fruit is doable. Four stars for the book!

This book has a lot of good information. It was helpful to understand what is happening with my body. Supplements were recommended to balance hormones and reduce menopause symptoms naturally and well as an overview of hormone therapy options.

I was expecting more recipes and better recipes. I found a few useful but most had ingredients I wouldn't use.

I received this galley from NetGalley.

Severine Menem is known as a Menopause Specialist, a nutritionist who empowers women with information and tools to navigate menopause and its symptoms as naturally as possible. Deliciously Healthy Menopause breaks down how to make lifestyle changes and describes the important role food plays in how you feel while transitioning through menopause. This is a good balance of science mixed with delicious, healthy, and flavor-filled recipes. Would love to add this book to my home collection.

Thank you to DK Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

Leading off with a breakdown of the affects of menopause and the changes it brings to a woman’s nutritional needs, more than half of Deliciously Healthy Menopause is devoted to recipes that support those needs.

Encouraging gluten free flour options, including vegetarian options, and not skimping on the dessert section, there are recipes (many with photographs) for many tastes. Whether it is a simple breakfast recipe of egg muffins for hormone balance, steady energy, and an immunity boost or a more involved main like Beef, spinach, and spices with rice to support bone and muscle health while providing sustained energy, there are a variety of recipes to tempt you into healthy choices in the kitchen.

What I appreciate most about Deliciously Healthy Menopause - other than all of the recipes I’m now wanting to try - is that author and nutritional therapist Severine Menem has presented not a verbose “diet” book but a streamlined tool for supporting health in, or approaching, a time in life where nutritional changes can be a challenge. Recommended.

This review refers to a digital galley (US edition) I voluntarily read via NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own.

Deliciously Healthy Menopause is a book every woman should read, especially if you are in any stage of menopause. It is informative and written in a language that is easy to follow and understand. The recipes are simple to make with ingredients you most likely already have in your pantry or fridge. There is a brief intro to each recipe that tells you what symptoms it helps with, why it's good for you and pictures of the food. I am not a beet fan, but I couldn't resist trying the beet chip recipe (because of the picture) and they were so good.

Severine Menem is a nutritional therapist who specializes in helping women over 40 to lose weight and manage their menopause symptoms naturally. Her cookbook begins with an overview of what menopause is and how nutrition and lifestyle choices can support you through this change. This information was easy to understand, although it doesn’t go into much depth. The rest of the book consists of recipes that the author recommends for midlife women, although these are healthy recipes that anyone can enjoy.

The recipes are organized into breakfasts, entrées, light bites, desserts and baked goods, and drinks. They are clearly written with helpful notes and include number of servings, prep time, and cook time. Each recipe has an introduction explaining why the author believes it is health for menopause, e.g., mushrooms are anti-inflammatory and boost immunity, and sage may help relieve hot flashes. The recipes do not include nutritional data if that is important to you.

Many of the recipes are printed on half of a two-page spread, with an attractive full-page photo of the finished dish on the facing page. There are no process photos, but most of the recipes aren’t that complicated to make.

These are generally simple recipes featuring flavors from many different cuisines; most use ingredients that should be fairly easy to find. Almost all are either naturally gluten-free or could very easily be made so. Most include animal protein, but there are some vegetarian-friendly recipes, and even a few that can be made vegan.

All of the recipes I’ve tried so far have been good. The sausage breakfast biscuits were easy to prepare and delicious. The chocolate, zucchini, and ginger muffins were a fudgy treat. The baked cod with lemon sauce was excellent—easy to prepare and great flavor. The chicken with green olives was also simple yet delicious. The beef and liver meatballs were very good, and an excellent way to consume nutrient-dense organ meat if you’re not normally a fan. The savory crêpes were delicious, although we had to thin the batter with a little extra milk. That was the only recipe that didn’t turn out perfectly for us as written.

I found this to be a very practical cookbook, and several of these recipes will become part of our regular rotation.

I was provided an ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.

This book has an excellent summary of menopause symptoms, including descriptions of common symptoms and why they occur. It also includes ways to potentially lessen some symptoms.

There is a quick explanation of nutrition and bioavailability (how your body absorbs nutrients). It is very brief, but accessible. The author is able to summarize a lot of information into a paragraph that is easily understood.

I loved the breakdown of how certain macronutrients (fats, proteins, carbs) affect your body and how to choose the right foods from each category in order to absorb the best nutrition and fulfill your body’s needs.

There is a lot of information in this book. More information than I received from my doctor! The first recipe isn’t until page 72.

I love that each recipe tells you which symptoms it affects, such as aids sleep or eases hot flashes. Many of the recipes also have notes that say “flex it” and offer alternative, such as add berries for additional sweetness and fiber. I love these notes. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback for me was that many of the recipes didn’t appeal to me for various reasons, including my personal dietary restrictions and flavor preferences.

I would love this book modified for women in this same stage of life with the coexisting conditions that can be managed with diet, such as diabetes, Celiac (gluten free), or vegetarian, etc. I would recommend a series or a longer book that offers more variations on the recipes.

Although very few of the recipes appealed to me, I am still considering purchasing a physical copy of this book to have on hand. I feel that the information it included was very useful and it would be nice to be able to refer back to the suggestions and possibly use the information to modify other recipes.

I would definitely recommend checking this one out just for the information it contains and I would suggest doing it before you begin menopause. Using some of the diet suggestions and other tips may help to prevent some of the symptoms before they begin.

4.5 stars

I picked this book up because I’ve been through menopause and I sure don’t know anything about it! Still, somehow! I did skim most of the ‘story’ or ‘health explanation’ of this book so I don’t remember it being particularly Gendery (ie “let’s go ladies, make some food for our inner girl power because we have vaginas!) etc, so I think it is safe on that front. I also didn’t get to make any of the recipes in this book, but some of them look really good. They’re also tagged with a list of symptoms that each recipe helps with. I don’t know if I believe that a diet can be the #1 go to thing when it comes to menopause, but changes in my diet have helped some of my symptoms, so honestly I’ll try anything. Especially egg in a hole. What a recipe! I also really enjoyed some of the food photography here, although not all recipes have a picture. Four stars.

I was so glad to see this title listed. As someone who was forced into menopause by cancer treatment, I was blindsided by the symptoms (I thought I had time! lol). This book was perfect for adjusting my diet and thinking about my new nutrition needs, lifestyle adjustments, and overall management of this new fresh he*l.
And the recipes are DELICIOUS! I was happy to see a few of my very favorites represented (egg in the hole!) and got some ideas for new menu staples. I wish there were more vegetarian and vegan options, but the ones that are there are amazing. Our library is for sure ordering this book! :)

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. I have been very interested in trying to naturally find remedies for premenopausal symptoms. This is a very well informed book and I highly recommend.

This book came at the right time for me. I know my body is changing, I just needed a guide map to make sure it doesn't completely go off course and this book is it. Very helpful information and recipes.

A nourishing guide to help get you through the change nobody really talks about...truly, why does nobody talk about menopause? This book (part breakdown of what actually happens in menopause and why) is far more resourceful than what that one nurse once told my mom of how to deal with perimenopause: "eat more yams and get better sleep and wear more tank tops when you have hot flahses." Eating for hormones has been a thing for a while (according to all the lifestyle vloggers out there) and Severine Menem's Deliciously Healthy Menopause is a great addition to the hormone cookbook library repertoire. This book actually breaks down how nutrients can be useful in aiding sleep, how foods can boost energy and moods, how to use cooking as one more bit of arsenal in helping to figure out how to get through this big life change. I mostly reviewed the recipes in this book and do plan on keeping it as a resource guide as I go through my own "change". I didn't review this book until much later than publication so I wound up purchasing it for myself.
You can suffer silently and panic-google the odd menopausal symptom at 3:00 am when it wakes you up for the thousandth time, or you can purchase this guide written by a calming, supportive nutritional therapist who specializes in menopause.