Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Menopause and Weight Loss, Natural Remedies

By Ricardo d Argence

Menopause is a challenging time of transition from the reproductive years to the post-childbearing years for many women. A woman's body stops causing egg follicles to mature every month and female hormones naturally decline when menopause occurs.

Sadly, menopause may be hard for certain females since it frequently produces unpleasant side effects. These can include hot flashes, insomnia, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness, loss of interest in sex, and irritability. Weight gain can be another common, but unexpected, symptom of menopause.

Even women who don't change their eating and exercise habits during menopause may experience weight gain. This can be frustrating, prompting women to wonder what caused this sudden and unexpected weight gain. Weight gain can also be a result of hormonally triggered overeating. Another cause of weight gain is the natural metabolic slow-down that happens as people age. When a woman's metabolic rate slows during menopause, any extra calories ingested have a far greater effect than they did pre-menpausal.

Estrogen and body fat work together in a unique way. Body fat helps regulate the production of estrogen, which declines dramatically in menopause. Sometimes, the body will fight to hold on to fat in an effort to stabilize estrogen levels. Hormones and the fat in body is linked together in complex which affect in gaining weight through changes in appetite, digestion, and metabolism.

Not talking about prescription hormone therapy, thus increasing the risk of breast cancer and reproductive system cancers, there are some natural therapies for women to combat the increasing use of menopausal symptoms such as weight gain. Some of these remedies include black cohosh and sage, to regulate hot flashes; chasteberry, for moodiness and general hormonal imbalance; and evening primrose oil, widely used to relieve PMS during perimenopause and control moodiness in menopausal women.

Many women mistakenly believe that these remedies will prevent weight gain and other menpausal symtpoms by themselves. The fact is that the most you can to to prevent or even eliminate weight gain while going through menopause is to eat well and work out.

A more effective approach to maintaining a healthy hormone balance is through a natural approach of eating nutrient dense, whole foods rather than using herbal remedies. A lot of women believe that a healthy lifestyle is more beneficial, during an illness, than herbal remedies.

A healthy, balanced diet means eating heart-healthy fats and avoiding bad fats. Whole grains, fruits, and vegetables should form the bulk of the diet, supplemented by lean protein and dairy foods (or non-dairy foods that contain calcium). Obviously, you should generally avoid fats and fried food, too much sugar, and junk foods, and additionally you should stay away from foods that contain excess liquor, spices, and caffeine if you find that these complicate menopause symptoms for you.

If you drink 8 cups of water daily and work out for approximately a half hour as many times as possible weekly, then you will be making progress towards losing a lot of weight, even if you're going through menopause. As you adopt a healthy diet and exercise plan that keeps your hormone levels on an even pace, you will see that the symptoms of menopause will lessen. - 16083

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