"Okay, so this isn't really a diet or nutrition question, but is there any way to still drink on menopause? I love having a glass of wine for dinner, but these days it always seems to cause a flare up in my hot flashes. Is there anything I can eat or do or prepare with the wine so I can drink it without getting hot flashes?"

Hi Linda,

I feel your pain! So many of us enjoy that glass of wine in the evening, but you’re absolutely correct in that it’s a trigger for hot flashes, along with spicy foods, or very hot (temperature) foods.

You can try doing a wine spritzer instead of a regular glass of wine and see if that helps. Just add about half the amount of wine and add plain seltzer. Less alcohol should have less of an effect, but sometimes it just takes a sip if you’re really sensitive to the vasodilating effects of alcohol.

The best thing though, is to find a non-alcoholic substitute for your wine. Maybe and iced herbal tea? Or experiment with fruit and herb infused waters. There are many benefits to cutting out alcohol. And it doesn’t have to be every day forever, just most of the time.

In addition to alleviating your hot flashes, cutting out alcohol will reduce your risk of breast cancer. The research on breast cancer suggests that the risk increases with just one drink a day, and it really jumps up with more than one drink. Cutting out just one glass of wine also saves you about 150 calories a day. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but if you do it every day – it adds up to 15 pounds at the end of a year!

The good news is that your hot flashes won’t last forever, so you can probably resume your wine with dinner eventually. But in the meantime, you might just establish a healthier habit and you won’t feel the need to go back to it.