Strength training, protein and fiber: This healthy trinity is key in menopause, but experts say these lifestyle changes benefit everyone.

Almost all women will go through menopause if they live long enough, but many women — and even some doctors — lack knowledge about this life stage and the tools to help manage it. Still, menopause has been a hot topic over the past few years, with doctors and researchers becoming increasingly vocal about how women can most comfortably navigate this phase of life. With that, there’s one piece of lifestyle advice that keeps circulating among menopause specialists and other health care professionals who treat women in this stage: focus on strength training and eat more protein and fiber.

This combination is a healthy trinity, and doctors say it’s important for women to make these changes even before they enter menopause or perimenopause, which is the transition that happens in the years leading up to menopause. “As 1% of women are fully menopausal by age 40 and 5% to 7% are fully menopausal by age 45 — and we cannot predict when someone will go through this — why not be prepared at any point?” Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine and founder of Madame Ovary, tells Yahoo Life.

Minkin stresses that these lifestyle tweaks are helpful — whether you’re going through menopause or not. She adds that the things “most menopause practitioners suggest are good for everyone.”

So what can increasing strength training, protein and fiber do for your health? And more importantly, how should you actually put this into practice? Doctors and a personal fitness instructor break it down.

Why is strength training important for health?

The medical and fitness community has made a big push over the past decade for people to do more strength training. “Regardless of menopause, data show that people lose about 5% of their muscle mass each decade after 30,” Albert Matheny, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab, tells Yahoo Life. “Strength training is important to start or maintain at any age to help build strength and/or minimize loss.”

Lean muscle mass “takes a significant decline in the menopausal phase due to aging and also decreases in estrogen,” women’s health expert Dr. Jessica Shepherd, an ob-gyn in Texas and author of the book, Generation M: Living Well in Perimenopause and Menopause, tells Yahoo Life. As a result, she says it’s “imperative” to start strength training to build lean muscle mass. That can help to improve bone strength too, Shepherd says. “As women age, bone mineral density decreases as well,” she points out.

Research shows that strength training can also help improve balance, reduce the risk of falls and improve quality of life as people get older. That often means pivoting away from only doing traditional cardiovascular exercises, Dr. Lauren Streicher, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. “A lot of people think they’re doing great if they’re burning calories, but it’s only strength training that will really impact frailty,” she says. “Strength training is really the way to go. You need to exercise perhaps in a way that you haven’t before.”

Strength training can even help to increase your metabolism, Dr. Kelly Casperson, a urologist and co-host of the You Are Not Broken podcast, tells Yahoo Life. “As a bonus, strength training makes you look really good,” she adds.

The U.S. government’s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults do at least two days of muscle-strengthening activity each week, in addition to at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week. Those strength training days should target all major muscle groups — the legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“You have to lift heavy — 2.5 to 5-pound weight doesn’t stimulate muscle growth,” Casperson says. Because lifting heavy weights comes with a risk of injury, she recommends consulting a fitness-minded friend or a personal trainer, if your budget allows. (Many gyms will offer a free training session when you sign up for a membership.) YouTube is also packed with free tutorials on proper strength training form.

Why is protein helpful?

Protein plays an important role in building and repairing muscles and organs. “Protein is one of the most important parts of sustaining muscle mass and is also a building block for heart health and bone strength,” Shepherd says.

Protein has been a buzzy macronutrient recently, although how much each person needs depends on several factors. The 2020-2025 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that females aged 14 and up try to get 46 grams of protein a day, while adult males aged 19 and up aim for 56 grams. But those recommendations haven’t been updated in years, and doctors generally agree that most people need more protein than that.

Research published in 2019 suggests that most adults need about 1.3-1.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, which means that the government recommendations are too low. If you want to build and maintain muscle mass, The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) recommends having 1.4-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.

For adults aged 65 and up, research suggests having at least 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight to combat muscle loss that happens with aging.

During menopause, “the ideal protein intake should be 1.5-2 grams of protein per kilogram,” Shepherd says. That means if you weigh 150 pounds, you should aim to have 102 to 136 grams of protein a day. To put that into perspective, 3 ounces of chicken (about the size of a deck of cards) contains 23-26 grams of protein, while one hard-boiled egg has about 6 grams of protein.

“This is not an easy feat and therefore should be increased over time to reach that amount as the goal is to have a protein intake that is sustainable over a long course of time,” Shepherd says. Casperson recommends trying to break up your protein intake throughout the day, making sure to get plenty at each meal and snack.

Why is fiber important for health?

Most Americans are falling short of their recommended fiber intake. More than 95% of women and 97% of men don’t meet their daily fiber recommendations, per the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. “Fiber is essential for a healthy gut microbiome, heart health and also controlling blood sugar levels,” Shepherd says. Fiber can also help with weight management — something that gets harder in menopause and as people age in general.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends having 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories, which ends up being about 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men up to age 50. (After that, the recommendations drop to 22 grams for women and 28 grams for men.)

But Casperson says that people, including women in menopause, likely need more than that. “The low bar is 25 grams,” she says. “If you actually count the fiber you eat in a day, you’ll realize how below that you are each day.”

The best way to get more fiber is to eat plenty of beans, cruciferous vegetables, nuts and fruit, Shepherd says. Casperson also suggests taking a fiber supplement if you consistently come up short.