Moments from Menopause

I began reading HEALTHY EATING DURING MENOPAUSE when I started having hot flashes and noticed that even though I was dieting like mad, my belly had a mind of its own. Literally. I had so many spare tires I could carry a four door sedan on my back and drive around town without any problems. I was really looking for some way to try and get rid of the menopause weight spread and boost my metabolism to help fight the fat during this phase of my life. I learned soooooooo much from this book about all aspects of healthy eating during menopause and how you can even control some of the lousy symptoms by modifying what you eat. In full disclosure, I haven't adopted all the strategies. Some foods I just can't gag down no matter how I try - like tofu. But many of the other foods and combinations of foods highlighted in the book are very tasty, economical and ultimately good for you. Remember when your mom and grandma told you to eat all your vegetables because they were good for yo...

“Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart.”  ―  Erma Bombeck “The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook.”  ―  Julia Child Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”  ―  Michael Pollan ,  In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Man seeks to change the foods available in nature to suit his tastes, thereby putting an end to the very essence of life contained in them. – Sai Baba A quick Google search of "quotes about food" yielded over a million hits. Those are a lot of words about something so fundamental. Something we really can't live without. The first two mentioned above are favorites of mine. The next two are a precursor of what my next few "lectures" are really about. During peri-menopause and menopause itself, a woman's metabolism slows down and body weight is much harder to lose and easier to gain. Many researchers estimate that a woman g...

" Not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin!"             -one of the three pigs to the Big Bad Wolf. “gray hair is gods graffiti”  ―  Bill Cosby I  personally do not know any woman who absolutely, hands down, loves her hair. I also personally do not know one single woman who doesn't do something to her hair, whether it's straighten curly hair, curl pin-straight hair, chemically treat it, dye it, frost it or chop it off. Every woman has a total love/hate relationship with her hair. Just like the hairstyle we had in high school is not the same hair style we have in our 50's - or I hope to God it isn't!- the actual hair we had when we were younger is very dissimilar to the hair we have as we age, and no where is that more evident than during the menopause years. So if you really hated your hair before, you're in for some not so pleasant moments ahead ( pun!). If you've come to a meeting of the minds with regards to your hair, know that there...

Moisturizing, protecting your skin from the suns' rays, and smoking cessation are a few ways to help navigate your skin  through the menopause minefield that you can practice everyday. Just like the damage from the sun is cumulative, so too are the steps you take right now to correct any damage and help prevent more from occurring. But there are other external means to help protect your menopausal skin that can also reap rewards for our largest organ. Fact: your skin renews itself approximately every 28 days through a process called Desquamation.   The epidermis,  or outer layer of our skin, constantly flakes off throughout the day, and, about once a month, this flaking leads to a prevalence of new baby skin cells surging forth. Kind of ironic that it occurs along a menstrual cycle timeline, isn't it? The epidermis is responsible for keeping germs out and fluids in. This cyclical shedding gets rid of topical skin cells that have been damaged, dried out, or deteriorated...

Your grandmother probably told you that what goes in your body will eventually show up on the outside of your body and she was right! Who knew! ? Our bodies are like fine tuned racing cars. If we put bad gasoline or engine oil into the car, the car will revolt and not function as it should. Eating a diet high in fats, dense calories, processed foods and foods whose main ingredient is the oil it was cooked in, will all take a toll on your skin and not allow it to function as it should. Not taking care of your skin from the outside does the same thing. When we're younger, the natural estrogen in our bodies helps to keep the skin supple and smooth, and can help combat the bad diet and care fallout, helping us to look good. But then menopause hits and all bets are off. With the loss of estrogen and collagen,  we loose that natural tendency to be able to fight off  and counterattack the bad stuff we are putting in our bodies. So we have to be proactive, and in some cases - atta...