Eat healthy fats each day. Good sources of healthy fats include pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cold-water fish or fish oil supplements, avocado and nuts.
Take daily antioxidants. Antioxidants combat cellular damage from free radicals, which is one of the most significant underlying factors leading to chronic conditions such as heart disease, cataracts, macular degeneration and many cancers. Antioxidants are found abundantly in fresh fruits and vegetables, organically grown fruits and vegetables have the highest amounts of antioxidants, due to their dependence on soil.
The following guide puts “The solution” into perspective and develops what proportion of each food is recommended for healthier living, longevity and to assist in managing menopause:
Our bodies are magnificently designed to move! However a lifetime of sitting – in schools, offices, cars, and homes - we often end up pain-ridden and diseased. Doctors are slowly coming to understand that many of these changes we have attributed to ageing are simply those that accompany physical inactivity.
Heart disease, osteoporosis, weight gain, increased aches and pain, a loss of confidence in ones appearance and sleeplessness are all associated with Menopause. It is no doubt that these debilitating experiences are a result of changing hormones. However Natural HRT, accompanied by a healthy diet and exercise plan are the perfect steps on the road to self-care.
Exercise provides all the cardiovascular benefits attributed to estrogen and has been shown repeatedly to significantly reduce the risk of heart disease, hypertension and stroke. Exercise causes more blood circulation with each contraction, sending more oxygen to the muscles. As a result you can do more without getting tired. This is what aerobic exercise is about. Any exercise is aerobic if it helps condition the heart, lungs and muscles to work more efficiently or allows you to consume more oxygen during activity, therefore lessening fatigue. With continued exercise your heart will become a more efficient pump. It will beat more slowly when you are resting, because it will be stronger and send out more blood with each beat. It will have developed new blood vessels within the heart muscle to nourish itself with oxygen.
Estrogen and progesterone replacement and exercise are effective in preventing and rebuilding bone marrow. Recent studies show encouraging results in preventing and reversing the effects of osteoporosis when women take up consistent exercise programs.
The link is: whatever builds muscle will build bone! Weight-bearing exercise helps build bone by stimulating the mineralisation and remodeling process. Every major muscle in our bodies is attached to underlying bone tendons. Every time a muscle contracts, it exerts a force on the bone to which it is anchored. Therefore any activity that builds up muscle also puts stress on the bone and helps build bone mass. We know for example, that in tennis players the bone density in their racket arm is significantly greater than in the other arm.
Research indicates that muscle strengthening exercises for the back, abdomen, shoulders and arms are important measures to prevent spinal osteoporosis. All movement helps – the thing to avoid is sitting or lying down for long periods of time-, incorporate vigorous movement into your day.
The hormone shifts of menopause predispose us to central obesity. Abdominal fat cells are more metabolically active – and potentially more dangerous – than the fat cells on your hips and thighs. They can contribute to insulin resistance, a metabolic condition in which your body has to secrete more and more insulin to clear the sugar out of the blood and they can pump out too much androgens and estrogen. Therefore to assist both your general health and to maximize the benefits of your Natural Hormone Replacement Treatment it is important to control your weight.
Your muscles are loaded with insulin receptors. The more muscle mass you have and the more heat you generate from your muscles on a regular basis, the more efficiently you’ll burn carbohydrates and body fat. As mentioned you are also protecting your bones and your heart.
Exercising, vigorous movement and stretching maintain an appearance ofExercise.jpg vitality and suppleness. A stiff body is not an inevitable part of ageing! When middle-aged people start to exercise, amazing changes in their appearance are noticeable almost instantly, a new grace comes from flexibility and energy. Yoga, dance and Tai Chi are especially good forms of movement to improve flexibility.
Exercise has subtle but extremely beneficial effects on our moods. Physical, muscular activity stimulates the brain causing the release of substances that produce euphoria and good feelings. Depression and physical pain are lessened. Exercise that involves stretching helps to counteract emotional problems. Tension is always accompanied by physical muscular contraction. Chronically contracted muscles are tight and often sore. As we train our muscles to stretch and relax, likewise our minds become calmer.
Quite sensibly women who follow a vigorous exercise routine sleep more soundly, even in the menopausal years when sleep is often troubled by night sweats.
A compound of Natural Hormones may be necessary in rebuilding your hormone levels to a healthier range in order to combat the debilitating menopausal symptoms. This combined with the benefits of exercise and a good diet can prevent and even reverse many of the changes associated with mid-life, old age and menopause.
As ovulation ends, the ovaries also slow their production of estrogen, a hormone that seems to protect women from heart disease and osteoporosis. During menopause, a woman may also have hot flushes, insomnia and other symptoms. Hormone replacement therapy can help control these problems, and it may also continue to protect a woman from heart disease and bone loss.
While there is conflicting evidence regarding the relationship between estrogen and progesterone replacement and the prevention of heart disease, many researchers and practitioners strongly feel estrogen has a role in heart disease prevention.
Primarily it is in an indirect fashion that natural hormone replacement will provide benefits leading to a healthier heart. For example the symptoms relating menopause, including hot flushes, mood swings, stress weight gain and so on all contribute to a higher risk of heart disease. Therefore balancing your hormones will reduce debilitating symptoms that contribute to a higher risk of heart disease.
About our Treatment Program
Our experienced nurses will work with you to manage your menopause and will advise on lifestyle changes that are beneficial for controlling menopause symptoms and are beneficial for your health in general i.e. exercise, diet, relaxation, weight control..etc.
This advice is then balanced with the correct NHRT (Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy) that reduces/ alleviates menopause symptoms and improves general health.
Your Nurse will call you each month to check how you are progressing and recommend changes to all or any of the above.
Many women find themselves gaining weight, changing body shape, accumulating fat and notice their waistlines thickening during “middle age”. The underlying reason for these changes is that midlife women experience a slowdown in metabolic rate of about 10-15% compared to earlier life.
Our bodies also become more efficient at taking energy into our cells and storing it in the form of fat. In addition, as estrogen levels fall, our appetite increases. Large amounts of estrogen are produced in the fat tissue.
Your adrenal glands are important in the long-term maintenance of your hormone levels. Adrenal glands increase production of androstenedione (the precursor to estrogen and testosterone) and progesterone. Therefore the systematic functioning of the adrenal glands is important.
One of the main ways you can support your adrenal glands is by ensuring your diet is completely meeting your body’s needs. Every vitamin and mineral is required at some point in your body’s production of hormones and for the functioning the adrenal glands.
The simplest course of action is taking a multivitamin every day, but for overall health, eating a nutritious diet is crucial.
Eat at least three meals a day, preferably small frequent meals.
It is well known that yo-yo dieting and periodic starvation lower your overall metabolism, resulting in a decrease of lean body mass but not necessarily a decrease in body fat. This means you could end up with a higher percentage of body fat than when you started dieting. It is best to keep you blood sugar stable throughout the day by eating frequent smaller meals.
Eat protein each meal. This means eggs, fish, lean meat, dairy food or a vegetarian alternative to animal protein such as soy. Protein should vary in proportion to your size and physical activity. Due to the tendency to gain weight during midlife, protein is important. Protein can also decrease your risk of cancer caused by excess estrogen.
However eating too much protein will increase your risk of osteoporosis.
Cut down on refined carbohydrates, and sugar. This means cutting down on white rice and foods made with white flour, such as muffins, rolls, biscuits, bread, snack foods and pasta. You also need to eliminate soft drink that has a high content of sugar.
You also need to reduce your intake of sweets and desserts, including lollies, cake and ice cream. Your body will be able to burn stored fat and keep your insulin and blood sugar levels normal only when you don’t eat or drink excessive amounts of the wrong kinds of carbohydrates.
Otherwise excess blood sugar will be stored as fat.
Eliminate or cut back on alcohol. Alcohol is nothing but sugar in a form that is so absorbable that its effects are felt within minutes in the brain. In eliminating the empty calories found in alcohol you may notice weight loss very quickly and even your hot flushes may improve. This is because alcohol significantly interferes with estrogen metabolism and causes almost immediate hormonal imbalance, due to too much estrogen in the blood in proportion to progesterone.
Drinking more than 2 glasses of alcohol per day increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer.
Eat a wide variety of fresh fruit & vegetables each day. The healthiest fruits and vegetables are the ones that are the most colourful. That is because the pigments in these foods are very powerful antioxidants. For example broccoli, capsicum, dark green leafy vegetables, and tomatoes.
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