Mind Over Menopause

If there’s one thing that really annoys me about menopause, it’s my ability to add pounds without even trying. Although I try to keep my weight down, my body goes its own way these days.

To keep up my battle against creeping pounds I’ve exchanged one solid meal a day for a bowl of soup instead. Results from a 12 month study of overweight people on a reduced-calorie diet showed that those enjoying soup each day lost more weight than people who got the same number of calories from other foods eaten for lunch or snacks.

The reason the soup-eaters lost more is  because a bowl of soup has a low ratio of calories to ounces. In other words, the soup takes up more space in the stomach, and you feel less hungry over the course of the day.

Feel like some soup? For women of that Certain Age here’s a soup full of cancer-reducing agents, B vitamins, calcium and phytoestrogens.

Cauliflower and Cannellini Soup
A quick and easy recipe using cauliflower, part of the Brassica (cruciferous) vegetable family, which is associated with a lower risk of cancer including breast cancer.

• 1 cauliflower head cut into florets
  400g can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed in cold water (this will reduce about 40 per cent of  added salt)
  1 chopped onion or leek
  About 2 litres of vegetable stock (depending on size  of  cauliflower and consistency desired)
  2–3 bay leaves1 teaspoon of butter (optional)
  1 dessertspoon of olive oil
  Handful of roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
  Salt (if not in vegetable stock) and cracked pepper
  Goats fetta or yoghurt for serving

Method

• In a large saucepan, heat olive oil and butter;add onion or leek and sauté on low heat until partially cooked.
• Stir in cauliflower to coat with the flavour of the onion and oil.
• Add beans, then enough vegetable stock to cover the vegetables.
• Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer until cauliflower is  cooked (breaks up when pressed with a wooden spoon).
• Remove bay leaves and blend with a fork, or with your processor.
• Serve with crumbled fetta or low-fat yoghurt and extra parsley.

Nutritional value

The anticancer effects of the Brassica family are associated with compounds called glucosinolates.

Broccoli is usually promoted as being the best choice in this family for potentially reducing cancer risk, but it is suggested that a variety of vegetables rich in glucosinolates may be better in helping to influence the enzymes in the body’s system that are moderated to reduce risk.

One of the ways the Brassica vegetables might lower breast cancer risk is  by influencing the way that our body’s oestrogen is  broken down to become less harmful.

The beans thicken the soup and provide a source of phytoestrogens  found in legumes. Phytoestrogens eaten in moderate to high amounts, as in the diet of Chinese and Japanese women, may help reduce perimenopausal symptoms in some  women.

In an earlier post, The Phytoestrogen Buzz I look at these plant compounds, similar in chemical makeup to our estrogen.

Cannellini beans also provide fibre and protein. Protein found in legumes, including beans, is an ‘incomplete’ protein and needs to be complemented with either a grain or a seed. Eating bread with the meal, or sprinkling sesame seeds on the soup, would complete the protein.

Alternatively, add fetta or yoghurt, both of which are complete proteins because  they are an animal source.

Cannellini beans are a good source of B vitamins, including folic acid. They are rich in cholesterol-lowering fibre. The high fibre content also prevents blood sugar level from rising too quickly, which helps sustain energy.

Adding goats fetta, or low-fat yoghurt, adds a source of calcium, as well as increasing the protein.