Fight Menopause Weight Gain

Menopause is a natural phase in a woman's life that can start as early as 35 years old but generally occurs around the age of 51. Weight gain is a "normal" side effect of menopause. The main cause is hormone fluctuations. Some hormones regulate our appetite, overall metabolism and how we store fat. A decline in the levels of these hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone makes it very difficult for a woman to avoid menopause weight gain.

There are three steps you can take immediately that will greatly aid in your fight against menopause weight gain.

Adopt a Balanced, Low Fat Diet.
A low fat diet with a lot of fruits and vegetables is ideal because you want to limit your fat intake as fat is very high in calories. At the same time you want to increase the fiber in your diet. You should consume 20 to 30 grams of fiber daily. It is very important to stay away from sugar and simple carbohydrates (mainly anything made of white flour). You want to limit, decrease your overall caloric intake. As you grow older, you need less calories. Portion control and eating smaller quantities should be the rule.

Increase your water intake
You should aim at drining at least 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. The heavier you are, the more you need to drink lots of water. To function in an efficient manner, most bodily functions require that the body be well hydrated. Water is also essential for flushing toxins and waste. You don't want your system to be clogged.

Get Moving or Increase Your Physical Activity
As you age, it becomes even more important that you be active. Regular exercises helps: 1) keep your heart strong as well as your bones; 2) regulate your weight; 3) enhance your mood (particulalry if you are depressed). Women who do not exercise are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and high blood pressure.
You should try to do an activity that you enjoy. Walking for instance can be a great choice. I deally you should also engage in some type of strength training to increase your muscle mass as we tend to lose muscles as we age.

Because cardiovascular disease and diabetes run in my family, I was desperate to fight the menopause weight gain that I experienced (more than 40 lbs!). I usually don't like to go on diets, but after some trial and error I found a program that really works. With the program and regular walking for an hour at at least 3 miles per hour, I was able to shed the extra weight.

The program is called Strip That Fat . What I really liked is that it costs less than $50.00 and you can create your very own personal diet plans by using the Diet Creation Tool. There are over 40,000 different two week diet combinations that you can create (they even provide you with your shopping list). It is very important to be able to customize your diet as you will be more likely to stick to it. You can have a look at the program by visiting here .

Hormones and weight gain during perimenopause and menopause go hand in hand. The following hormones are usually involved:

- Estrogen: Estrogen levels diminish during menopause causing your period to stop. Because of the decreased production of estrogen by your ovaries, your body is forced to look for another source of estrogen which are your fat cells. So your body converts more calories into fat in order to find more estrogen. This leads to weight gain.

- Progesterone: Progesterone levels also decrease causing water retention or bloating.

- Testosterone : Levels of this hormone goes down during menopause leading to the loss of your muscle mass and a lower metabolism. We know that muscles burn calories, so the lower level of this hormone causes weight gain.

- Insuline Resistance can occur during menopause when your body mistakenly turns every calorie you take into fat. A high carbohydrate diet, particularly heavy with processed and refined foods may make your body resistant to the insulin released in your blood stream. This is often a main cause of weight gain for some women.

Most women who experience pre-menopause and enter menopause suffer from hormonal imbalance.

If your symptoms are mild, you can fight your menopause symptoms by changing your diet, reducing your stress and exercising regularly.

However, if your symptoms are severe, you may have to consult a physician about Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy.

Bio-identical hormones are hormones prepared from plant compounds and are natural and identical to the hormones found in the body.

Bio-identical hormones replacement therapy does not have side effects like the regular hormone replacement therapy which uses synthetic hormones that are foreign to the body.

For instance, the benefits of bio-identical progesterone are numerous. They protect you against breast cancer, will elevate your mood, improve your brain functions and increase your energy and stamina.

There is still a controversy around bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. Since bio-identical hormones are natural, they cannot be patented by the pharmaceutical industry. They thus suggest that they are not as effective as synthetic hormones.

But in a study conducted by the Women's Health Initiative on synthetic hormones, it was found that those women on HRT had a 29% higher risk of breast cancer, a 26% higher risk of heart disease, and a 41% higher risk of stroke.

To be put on Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, you will have to find a doctor who is knowledgeable about hormones and menopause and who can work with a compounding pharmacy to prescribe to you a unique formula that is tailored to your levels of hormones that are in your body.

When talking with your doctor, you will have to discuss the benefits of bio-identical hormones if you want to go on a natural treatment.

For more information on bio-identical hormones and menopause, get the free e-book at Menopause in Women .

There is a stress epidemic in the United States. The majority of American women are very likely to have excessive stress in their lives.

For the menopausal woman, this is bad news as stress tends to worsen the symptoms associated with menopause.When you are under a lot of stress, hormones tend to get out of balance more easily because stress is known to block estrogen receptors. When estrogen is at a lower level you are more susceptible to weight gain and all the other symptoms of perimenopause and/or menopause.

There are 4 categories of stress: physical stress, emotional stress and mental stress, chemical stress.

Physical Stress. Physical stress is often due to overworking, lack of sleep, fatigue and chronic pain. The physiologic changes that go with menopause such as hormonal imbalance can add to stress.

Emotional/mental Stress. This area of stress is also called psychological stress. Emotions such as anger, depression, anxiety and fear can cause chronic emotional stress.. Mental stress can come from the worries and anxiety that often derive from too much work and not enough down time, too much debt, marital difficulties. Feeling overwhelmed or feeling trapped can also contribute to mental stress.

Chemical Stress. Chemical stress comes from excessive use of various substances such as excessive caffeine, alcohol, nicotine or excessive sugar and from food additives. It can also come from the environment in the form of toxic chemicals such as pesticides.

So what can you do?

Although there are lots of sources of stress that are beyond our control, there are also a lot of them that we can manage and control. We can control the following: 1) to a certain extent we can control how much exposed we are to chemically polluted environments; 2) we can control our every day stress by having an adequate amount of sleep, being more organized at work, limiting our exposure to negative people etc..; 3) We can pay more attention to what we think about and how we feel about certain things. Being aware is a very important step in the fight against stress.

To shop for environmentally safe products visit Maya's Health Store .

I also found a great program of Relaxing Rhythms put together by leading physicians in the field of wellness such as Doctors Deepak Chopra, Dean Ornish and Andrew Weil. To find out more go to: Relaxing Rhythms .