In the midst of menopause NINA S HANDLER threw away her estrogen pills and turned to soybeans and flaxseeds for relief. ESTROGEN MAKES ME SICK. LITERALLY. I am a menopausal woman. Blond, blue-eyed, small-boned. A picture of osteoporosis waiting to happen. Soaking in my own sweat. Waking up at two-hour intervals every single night by a self-generated tropical typhoon. With each awakening, I feel the force of realization: I’m burning up. I’m drying out. I’m becoming a prune! Soon, I’ll be old, frail, haggard. I’m at risk. I need help.

So I went to my doctor. He said, “You need to take hormone replacement therapy.” I asked, “Will the sheets stay dry?” He answered, “Yes, and your bones will stay strong, your heart will stay healthy, your skin will stay young, and you’ll maintain vaginal lubrication.” I asked, “But will it increase my risk of breast cancer?” He said, “You’re not at high risk for breast cancer.” I thought to myself, “Neither are most of the one in eight women who get it.” I repressed the thought.

The day after my first dose, I woke up with nausea. The next day, I woke up with nausea and a headache. Two weeks went by and things had not improved. I made a rash and inadvisable decision: I threw the estrogen and the progesterone into the wastebasket. I had to find another way.

I spent months researching. I read that pumping iron might be just as effective as estrogen for protecting my pitifully petite skeleton, so I started working out. I was eating well and taking Chinese herbs recommended by my acupuncturist and herbalist. My 10-minute night sweats turned into five-minute heat waves and came at three-hour intervals rather than every two hours. I dropped in and out of sleep more restfully.

Then I found the most important information of all: changing my diet could relieve many of my symptoms. Japanese women eat a lot of phytoestrogen-rich soy foods and they experience fewer menopausal symptoms than American women. Medical journals and leading doctors seemed to agree that a diet rich in plant estrogens can minimize menopausal discomforts, lower cholesterol, benefit bones, reduce the risk of breast cancer, maintain younger-looking skin, and maintain vaginal moisture. The only potential downside I could find was fat.

The best sources of phytoestrogens are soyfoods and flaxseed. While both are rich in essential fatty acids, especially cholesterol-lowering omega-3s, both can quickly add a lot of fat to the diet. (A flve ounce serving of firm tofu contains about 7 grams of fat; 3 tablespoons of flaxseeds contain about 10 grams of fat.) And too much fat, even good fat, is not healthy. To maintain a healthy weight and keep total fat intake between 20 and 30 percent, I would need to minimize my intake of conventional fat-rich foods. When possible, I would have to substitute the soy equivalent, using flaxseeds instead of nuts in baked goods, drinking soymilk in place of cow’s milk, and eating soy burgers and hot dogs instead of the meat equivalent.

So how much soy and flax would I have to eat to approximate the benefits of hormone replacement? My research indicated at least three servings a day. (For more information, see “How Much Is Enough?” at right.) Although this may seem like a lot of soy and flaxseed, once I started developing recipes, I found it was not as hard as it sounds. And I also found that menopausal women are not the only ones who profit from a diet rich in plant estrogens: My husband and daughters are getting health benefits like lowered cholesterol.

Here are some facts:

FLAXSEED-BASED CEREALS and granolas can deliver a day’s worth of plant estrogen in just one serving—especially if you pour soymilk over them. In general, breakfasts and snacks are the most efficient way to boost the amount of plant estrogen in your diet (see Date-Nut Granola and Maple-Nut Crunch recipes).

DEFATTED SOY FLOUR can be added to baked goods, replacing up to 20 percent of the wheat flour in most recipes. When replacing wheat flour with soy flour, add a little more liquid (soy flour absorbs more than wheat) and lower the baking temperature by 25 degrees to counteract the fast browning caused by the soy flour.

SOY NUTS are rich in protein and calcium as well as plant estrogens. I like grinding a cup of soy nuts with a teaspoon of salt to make a seasoning for Asian dishes (see Thai Salt recipe) or combining them with rice syrup to make a nut brittle (see Peanut Crisps recipe).

SOYMILK can be used like cow’s milk, over cereal or in smoothies or baked goods. I like to spice up plain soymilk with a dash each of ground cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and almond extract. Heated, this makes an excellent alternative to coffee and can be consumed by the mugful throughout the day. (Also, see Orange Shake recipe.)

TOFU can be helpful. Use it to make smoothies, desserts, dressings, soups, or main courses. Tofu alone can’t satisfy the daily requirement for plant estrogen—you would have to eat a pound or more. But in combination with other soyfoods and flaxseed, it’s part of the answer (see Orange Shake, Thai-Style Yellow Curry, Eggplant and Penne in Red Pepper Sauce, and Strawberry Sorbet recipes).

THE NINE GREAT RECIPES that start on page 178 will take you through the day—from a nutty breakfast granola to a Thai tofu dinner (and even strawberry sor¬bet for dessert). Each recipe contains a significant amount of plant estrogen. in the form of soy or flaxseed. In fact, many of these recipes contain more than one source of plant estrogen. Therefore, I have listed the total plant-estrogen content for each serving. For instance, a recipe that contains half a tablespoon of flaxseed and half a cup of soymilk would contain one plant-estrogen unit. You should consume between two and eight units of estrogen per day.

From the book Estrogen: The Natural Way by Nina Shandler. Copyright 01997 by Nina Shandler. Reprinted with permission of Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc.