The menopause transition changes more than the obvious. Total cholesterol, LDL and apolipoprotein B all rise in the year either side of the final period, by more than ageing alone accounts for, and body composition shifts along with them. Muscle mass has been declining since the third decade of life, and protein is what rebuilds it, though only alongside strength work. Eating more of it on its own will not build muscle.
Fibre carries a good deal of the rest, lowering the incidence of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and colon cancer, and feeding the gut bacteria that ferment it into short-chain fatty acids. The World Health Organization puts intake at 25 to 29 g a day. Most of us manage around half that.
Mediterranean eating is the pattern that keeps surfacing. In one study following more than 25,000 women across 25 years, those who stayed closest to it had a 23% lower risk of death from any cause, with more favourable inflammation, lower triglycerides and less insulin resistance. Olive oil, oily fish, beans, nuts and vegetables do the work, which is what these recipes are built on. Nothing here needs counting.
Drawn from Stephanie's Harvard Medical School executive education in women's health and nutrition. Nutrition figures shown inside the bundle recipes are as published in the Mediterranean Recipe Bundle.