For many women experiencing menopause, dealing with the spells can make them miserable. It's not uncommon for a woman to wake up in the middle of the night due to dealing with annoying hot flashes. In addition to hot flashes, there's also heart palpitations, irritability, and a lack of a sex drive that all result from menopause. All of these symptoms are caused by a hormonal imbalance that takes place during menopause when testosterone, estrogen, and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) decline. When hormones drop this also leads to other issues for women such as mood swings and weight gain.

Luckily by changing their lifestyle women who are experiencing menopause can make it more manageable and perhaps even go through it without having to deal with weight gain or mood swings. If the right foods aren't being consumed and menopausal women don't feel their best, the keto diet can thankfully help with that.

Many patients are surprised to learn that diet and lifestyle choices can dramatically impact menopausal symptoms. (2) Even if a patient is watching calories, a high-sugar diet (and remember: all carbohydrates break down into sugar) can spike and crash insulin levels, which then leads to the storing of fat, exacerbation of inflammation, and the creation of a hormonal-imbalance domino effect.

Among its benefits, during menopause a Keto-Alkaline™ Diet can help:

Balance hormones. A Keto-Alkaline™ Diet optimizes insulin, cortisol and other hormone levels so you experience fewer symptoms like hot flashes. If they do occur, they’re usually shorter and less misery-inducing.

Improve brain function. Maria Emmerich, author of Keto-Adapted, says a hot flash is your brain trying to protect itself from starving. One of estrogen’s jobs is to get glucose into your brain for fuel, yet during menopause when estrogen drops, so does its ability to get glucose to your brain. When glucose can’t get into the brain, hot flashes increase while brain health declines. The good news is that ketones can replace the glucose in your brain and other tissues.

Here’s how it can work:

1. Burn fat. As many patients can attest, weight loss can become a serious challenge during menopause. I’ve found that a Keto-Alkaline™ Diet optimizes hunger-regulating hormones like insulin and leptin, reduces the hunger-growling hormone ghrelin, and eliminates cravings so you can lose weight and keep it off.

2. Improve sleep. When your diet is filled with sugar and carbohydrates, even those seemingly innocent 100-calorie snack packs can spike and crash your blood sugar, which ultimately impacts sleep levels. Combined with hot flashes, heart palpitations and other menopausal symptoms, your sleep can really start to suffer. A Keto-Alkaline™ Diet balances blood sugar levels and optimizes hormones like cortisol, serotonin and melatonin to improve sleep and reset your circadian rhythm.

3. Lower inflammation. Chronic inflammation can increase during menopause, sparking unpleasant symptoms like chronic pain and playing a significant role in nearly every disease on earth.

Since a lack of sleep, weight gain, and inflammation all tend to be side effects of menopause, it's nice to know that a ketogenic diet can help combat them. Dr. Axe lists many ways that eating a low carb diet can improve a woman's lifestyle and help her get through menopause a lot easier.

By burning fat women can regulate their hormones and feel healthier overall. This, in turn, should make working out a lot easier and perhaps even enjoyable since those hormonal feelings are now at bay.

Women who work out regularly and continue to improve their diet should begin seeing an improvement in their sleep. Menopause may be a nuisance, but by implementing healthy habits and a low carb diet a woman be on her way to successfully make it through menopause without having to deal with all of its side effects.

Dr. Axe mentions additional ways the keto diet can help a woman through menopause on Dr. Axe.