Supporting Nutrition Graduates

Last night Laura and I spoke to the Nutrition Graduates Group hosted by Lucy Jade ANutr. After writing the Eating Well for Menopause booklet – a project that has certainly grown legs – it has been so good to share our learning with other nutrition professionals. A couple of weeks ago we presented to the London and South East Association for Nutrition regional group and we have been invited to present at the Welsh AfN regional group in July – it is like our own virtual book tour!

As nutritionists, we are asked for advice from people at different ages and stages, with different challenges facing them in making positive changes. It is important to understand how priorities and motivations can change. When women approach menopause, the drop in oestrogen means that health risks change and a shift is needed is the way health messages are presented. Many women are unaware how much their cardiovascular risk changes around menopause – heart disease is often seen as something that affects men not women. This is just one example.

There is also a great deal of myth and promises of silver bullets with scant evidence of efficacy and safety in the long term. It is important for us as professionals to understand what information women have available to them and also how they may be feeling about going through this transition. Even someone who has navigated this phase of their lives themselves may find it enlightening to see the variability and range of experiences that women have and the questions they ask.

Good, empathic, evidence based information with real practical examples of how that can be achieved can really help to set women up for healthy and active post-menopausal life with a positive outlook.

If you work with menopausal women and would like them to steer them to an accessible resource with clear short chapters addressing the most common questions that women ask complete with recipes to help put the advice into action then take a look at our mini-book.

A big thank you to Lucy for inviting us and if you are a nutrition graduate, get involved in her group for more CPD and events.