Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Transitioning Through Menopause and Middle-Age With Ease


Transitioning through menopause is challenging. Do we take hormone replacement therapy? Only you can answer that. Do you have body fat and fluid changes, and hunger cravings before your menses? This may be a clue whether hormone therapy will actually benefit you. More breast and ovarian cancers seem to occur during this transition through menopause. Because these cancers are estrogen dependent, I chose not to take hormone replacement therapy.

Starting in peri-menopause, especially if you are working, are you more stressed? Are you hungry all the time? Have you previously noticed that before your menses, that you are retaining more water, and hungry all the time? Peri-menopause and menopause is the time when the progesterone, and testosterone are dropping out of the mix, creating unbalance. Since we have an excess of estrogen, and since cancers like breast cancer and ovarian cancer, (and uterine fibroids) are driven by an excess of estrogen, I think it would be unwise to supplement with hormone replacement therapy.

It is challenging, navigating the transition through menopause, and even middle age. Yes, I used to be addicted to giant chocolate bars. I knew that I was not feeling better when I ate these. I was losing energy, good skin, and retaining more water and fat cells.

Have you noticed that things that you were perfectly happy with before, now become intolerable? I have read that this is the age when women try to rectify the things that they think are unfair. Has communication with your spouse or your children come to heated arguments, with no resolve? Hormone replacement (I believe) will exacerbate the situation. So how do we get back in balance?

Lets start with healthy eating. Yes we may need to fine-tune it a bit. We are all genetic individuals, and we all have different requirements to help our bodies, and cells feel better. What is "healthy" for one may not be healthy for another. Fine tuning our intake of food, can give us immediate results. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually felt good eating something "good for me" rather than feeling the same as I did before. The change in how I felt was dramatic. I could give up the chocolate bars (slowly) and eat the way I knew I should.

I still notice those "monthly" cycles, even though I have no menses. I get more hungry, and I don't digest as well. See if you notice these times too. I promise, if you eat what is good for you, you be able to eliminate the ups and downs of these cycles, making them easier. When the stress and other symptoms subside, we can have less of that "PMS" (out of control) feeling.

I have been able to find my perfect "weight" for my age, without energy loss, and breast cyst recurrence. I have been through the almost dissolution of my marriage, and the animosity of my children. In fact when I worked at a large insurance company, I was sad to notice, that most of the households broke up between the 40's and 60's with most concentrated around the early 50's.

If you have a genetic predisposition to put on belly fat because of your ancestors, you can start to stop it and minimize the "belly". I know because it runs in my family.

I know I can help you with your health, and your relationships, and your personal self-worth. I promise you will not feel hungry or have an upset stomach. You may be able to avoid type II diabetes, and maybe this will even help you avoid the Big C.

No comments:

Post a Comment