Ingredients:

½ ripe avocado

1 ripe frozen banana

1 tablespoon peanut butter

2 tablespoon cacao or cocoa powder

1-2 medjool dates, pitted. Optional.

125ml almond milk, or milk of choice

Pinch sea salt

Method:

Place all ingredients into a blender. Blend until thick and smooth. Add more milk to make it thinner, if desired.

Serve with a dusting of cocoa powder

Tip:

For a dairy free ice-cream alternative, place blended mixture into a freezer-safe container and freeze.

The post Chocolate-Avocado Thick Shake appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

Ingredients:

3 cups of cooked quinoa, cooled to room temperature

2 generous handfuls of rocket

1-2 bunches of asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 cup snap frozen broad beans, cooked and cooled to room temperature

1 cup of cooked green peas, cooled to room temperature

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: Danish feta

Directions:

1. Toss quinoa, rocket, asparagus, broad beans, and green peas. If you are using Danish feta, add and gently toss.
2. Vigorously shake lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper in a sealed jar. Adjust to taste.
3. Pour over salad and enjoy.

The post Quinoa and Asparagus Salad appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

Ingredients:

3 garlic cloves, finely diced

4cm cubed piece of ginger, peeled and finely diced

2 green chilli, sliced

1 large onion, finely diced

2 tbsp olive oil, for frying

750g lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 3cm chunks

2 tsp coriander ground seeds

2 tsp ground cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric

2 cardamom pods, squashed

4 large tomatoes, quartered

500ml lamb stock

200g spinach, roughly chopped

1 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped

Jasmine rice and/or naan bread, cooked as directed on package

Method:

1. Heat 1 ½ tbsp oil in a large pan. In two batches, brown the lamb on all sides. Place on a plate to rest and put to one side.
2. Add the remaining oil in the pan and fry the spices for 2 minutes, adding a splash of water if they start to stick. Add the garlic, ginger, chillies and onion and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Add the lamb, tomatoes and stock. Stir, cover and cook for 45mins.
4. Stir in the spinach and cook for another 45 minutes, or until the lamb is tender. If the sauce is looking thin, take the lid off for the last 20 minutes of cooking to reduce the sauce.
5. Mix through ¾ of the coriander, using the last ¼ to garnish.
6. Serve with rice and naan bread, as desired

The post Lamb Saag appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

Ways to Help to reduce your risk of breast cancer

Contact the Australian Menopause Centre on 1300 883 405 for more information!

Regular Breast Screening – Women over the age of 50 and up to the age of 74 are advised to have regular breast screen and this is a free test in Australia through Breastscreen Australia. Women at high risk of developing breast cancer should consider screening more regularly and younger than age 50.

Control your weight 1 – Being overweight can increase your risk of developing breast cancer. At menopause, the oestrogen produced by your body is is mainly derived from fat. Having more fat has been shown to increase your risk as it often is accompanied by an increase in the amount of insulin produced.

Exercise 2 –  any increase in the amount of exercise that you do will help you to reduce your risk of serious health problems including breast and other forms of cancer. Try to exercise daily if possible or at least several times per week. Even a 10 minute walk each day will make a difference to your overall health – helping to control your weight and helping to keep your heart healthy. You could start at 5 minutes and work your way up – you will be surprised at how much easer it becomes once you get into the habit.

Try and keep from sitting for too long. Too much time sitting 3  – and these days with TV and computers, we can second too much time sitting down. Try and reduce the amount of sitting time – stand occasionally for short periods of time, move about. Get up and take a brief walk around the room or outside if you can.

Avoid alcohol 1 – either reduce or stop altogether if you can. The risk of breast cancer increases significantly for women who drink even 2 or 3 glasses of alcohol per day.

Hormone Replacement Therapy 4, 5  – Research has shown  that postmenopausal women who take a combination of estrogen and progestin are more likely to develop breast cancer on average all women whether on any form of hormone replacement therapy or not, have an increased risk of breast cancer of almost one in eight. If you need hormone replacement therapy then micronized progesterone and bio-identical oestrogen might be considered.

The Australian Menopause Centre doctors have always prescribed bio-identical micronized progesterone and bio-identical oestrogen and always individualise treatment for each patient’s needs.   The literature has confirmed 5 that the use of micronized progesterone and bio-identical oestrogen has a lower risk of causing breast cancer than using synthetic progestin and oestrogen. The large E3N French cohort study found that the risk of invasive breast cancer was significantly lower with oestrogen combined with micronized bio-identical progesterone than with HRT containing synthetic progestogens.

Contact us today to speak with one of our experienced doctors and see if the Australian Menopause Centre can help you.

1 Connecting the dots between breast cancer, obesity and alcohol consumption in middle-aged women: ecological and case control studies

10. R. Miller, C. Wilson, J. Chapman, I. Flight, A.-M. Nguyen, C. Fletcher Ij Ramsey https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-5357-1

2 Physical Exercise and Reduced Risk of Breast Cancer in Young Women. Bernstein L, Henderson BE, Hanisch R, Sullivan-Halley J, K. Ross RK. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, vol 86, September 21, 1994

3 Sitting Too Much Increases Cancer Risk in Women -American cancer Society https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/sitting-too-much-increases-cancer-risk-in-women.html http://radonc.wdfiles.com/local–files/part-2/RANZCR_Stats_1996b.pdf

4 Women’s Health Initiative https://www.whi.org/SitePages/WHI%20Home.aspx

5 E3N study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2211383/

The post Friday 18th October is World Menopause Day. appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

Ingredients:

½ cup coconut oil

½ cup cacao or cocoa powder

¼ cup (or less) maple syrup, honey agave or brown rice syrup

½ cup roughly chopped dark chocolate (80% or greater cocoa)

½ cup roughly chopped walnuts

1 ½ cup desiccated coconut, unsweetened

¼ cup oats

½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. In a medium pot, melt coconut oil.
2. Remove from heat and whisk in the cacao powder and vanilla extract, once mixed, add the maple syrup or alternative. Add 1 cup desiccated coconut, dark chocolate, oats and walnuts, stir until well combined.
3. Place remaining coconut on a plate. Roll a tablespoon sized ball of chocolate mixture in hands then coat in remaining coconut flakes.
4. Place balls on a lined tray and leave in fridge for 30 minutes to set.
5. Enjoy as a treat and get those brain juices moving.

Store: refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 7 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

The post Dark Chocolate and Walnut Coconut Balls appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups water

2 green tea bags

1 teaspoon sesame oil

½ teaspoon minced ginger

1-1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup shredded and cooked chicken

1/2 cup tofu, diced (optional)

1 tablespoon miso paste

2 stems of spring onions, sliced

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 medium/large zucchini (made into noodles using a spiralizer)

Pepper, to taste

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the water to an almost-boil (when there are bubbles beginning to form at the bottom of the pot, but not on the top of the water), remove from heat, add the green tea bags and let steep for 2-3 minutes. Remove tea bags and set the broth aside.
2. Place a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add your sesame oil and once heated add your ginger and let it cook for 30 seconds. Then pour in your vegetable stock, cooked chicken, tofu (optional) and green tea broth, and bring it all to a boil.
3. Once the soup is boiling, ladle out about 1/3 of a cup of the soup into a bowl. In that bowl, add the miso paste, and whisk until it is dissolved. Add this miso broth back into the saucepan and lower the heat.
4. Add the soy sauce, spring onions, zucchini noodles and pepper to the soup, and let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the zucchini noodles soften.
5. Once done, pour the soup into a bowl and enjoy.

The post Miso Green Tea and Ginger, Chicken Soup appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

4tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

2cm cube fresh ginger, finely chopped

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp dried coriander

½ tsp cinnamon

400g chickpeas, rinsed and cooked

200g tomatoes, chopped

Juice of ½ lemon

2 eggplants, sliced lengthways

75g walnuts, roughly chopped

For the walnut sauce:

200g tub of Greek-style yoghurt

1 garlic clove, crushed

25g walnuts, roughly chopped

Handful coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the onion and fry until soft and lightly browned. Add the chilli, ginger, ground cumin, dried coriander, cinnamon and mix well. Cook for 1-2 min or until fragrant. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes and 5 tbsp water, bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Add a little salt and pepper, and the lemon juice. Stir through walnuts.
2. Arrange the eggplants over a grill. Brush lightly with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then grill until golden. Flip eggplant and repeat oil and seasoning and grill until golden.
3. Mix the yoghurt, garlic, walnuts and fresh coriander and add a little salt and pepper. Arrange eggplant slices on a platter and spoon over the chickpea mix. Drizzle with the walnut sauce and serve.

The post Grilled Eggplant with Spicy Chickpea and Walnut Sauce appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

Simply jazz up a salad with cubed watermelon.

Make a refreshing watermelon lemonade mocktail (4 cups watermelon, 1 ½ cup lemon juice, ½ cup sugar, 6 cups cold water – blended). Drink it from a wine glass and put your feet up.

Enjoy some homemade watermelon sorbet (blend 3 ½ cups frozen watermelon chunks with 2 tsp lime juice). You can even refreeze this into homemade icy poles.

Simply slice up some watermelon and take it to the next sports game – it will be an energising and hydrating hit with the players.

Or try this beautiful recipe:

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Cucumber

Ingredients:

3 cups of watermelon, cubed or balled

1 ½ cups sliced cucumber, seeds removed

2 tablespoons mint, thinly sliced

1/3 cup Danish feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Place watermelon, cucumber, mint and feta into a large bowl. Mix.
2. Whisk olive oil, lime and salt and pepper in a small bowl/bottle.
3. Drizzle dressing over salad, toss to coat. Serve.

The post Watermelon Salad with Feta and Cucumber appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

2/3 cup ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)

1/2 cup unsweetened natural almond or peanut butter

1/3 cup pure maple syrup or honey

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cup raisins

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Spray or oil the cups of a 12-cup muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except raisins. Once combined, add raisins.
3. Evenly divide batter into pre-prepared muffin pan
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and top appears somewhat dry. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Note: Add some walnuts for some crunch or add some cranberries for a change.

The post Flaxseed Breakfast Cookies appeared first on Australian Menopause Centre.

1kg desiree potatoes, roughly chopped

Olive oil cooking spray

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

¼ teaspoon chilli flakes

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon dried oregano

400g can diced tomatoes

4 eggs

Flat leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Place potatoes in a greased 2L capacity roasting pan. Spray with oil. Roast for 40 minutes or until golden and crisp. Turn potatoes halfway through cooking.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion. Cook, stirring until onion starts to brown. Add garlic, chilli, paprika and dried oregano. Cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add tomato. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
3. Reduce oven to 160C. Add potatoes to tomato mixture, toss to combine. Return to roasting pan and make 4 indents in the potato mixture. Crack 1 egg into each indent.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until egg whites are just set. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with parsley. Serve and enjoy.

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