Stir Fry with Soy for Hot Flashes

Since my most recently published Everyday Health article is about the benefits of using soy to relieve the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, I decided to share one of my favorite recipes that include soy, a savory tofu Stir Fry. I use frozen vegetables to cut the prep time.






What You'll Need:

• 12 ounces firm tofu, diced
• 12 ounces broccoli pieces
• 12 ounces carrot slices
• 3 or 4 ounces water chestnut slices or almonds
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
• A wok or large skillet

Instructions:

1. Coat the inside of the wok with olive oil and place it over medium-high heat.
2. Toss the broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts and finally the tofu bits in the hot wok.
3. Stir the ingredients gently for just about five minutes.
4. Sprinkle the sugar and corn starch on top of the partially cooked veggies and tofu.
5. Pour the soy sauce on top of the sugar and stir for about three more minutes ot until the vegetables reach the desired level of tenderness and the sauce thickens just a bit.
6. Eat the stir fry by itself or serve over rice or ramen noodles.

Keeping Cool When Temperatures Soar and you Are Having Hot Flashes

Hyper-Kewl Evaporative Cooling Neck Band
3-Pack

I found an inexpensive product I really love that helps cool me off quickly, and I want to share. This is a non-medicine solution, and it works almost instantly.

I picked up a cooling neckerchief, bandana type thing at the dollar store (You can get them on Amazon, too if you don't feel like driving around looking for one at the dollar store.). That's right, learning about this fast relief for hot flashes tip cost me a whole $1.07 (tax included of course.)

These things have a few tiny beads stitched into them, but then you soak them and the beads swell up to fill the entire neck area..

I soak the neckerchief in cold water and wrap it around my neck. It actually gives off a cold relief for a couple hours before it needs to be resoaked.

Here is my favorite little tip, other than the one about using this inexpensive method to cool hot flashes, I put the cooling bandana in a zipper seal baggie with a couple tablespoons of cold water when I'm in a hurry.

Then I let the crystals in the bandana soak up all the excess water and wrap the neckerchief around my neck when it's ready.

I don't think I would like this solution for night sweats, though. It seems as if it would get the pillow all wet, so I have only tried this for daytime and evening use.