MENOPAUSE
Definition:
Menopause, also referred to as “the change of life,” is the period at which women stop ovulation. The menopausal period affects each woman differently. Some start early, some start and stop, but most experience the change around the age of fifty (50). Menopause usually lasts up to five years.
Symptoms:
Symptoms relating to menopause are hot flashes, night sweats, depression, dizziness, headache, difficulty breathing and heart palpitations. These have been connected with a decrease in estrogen production. In persons who are hypoglycemic, the symptoms are often more pronounced. But if a woman is in good health, assimilating nutrients and has good digestive and eliminative systems, as well as positive outlook, these symptoms are hardly noticed.
Known Conditions Contributing to Health Problem:
Dairy products must be avoided; they contain antibiotics and hormones which disrupt the body’s natural estrogen. Milk, cream cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese all contain hormones. Avoid sugar and white products. Meat should be avoided too as it contributes to hot flashes. Eliminate coffee, tea, alcohol and nicotine. Where possible stay away from drugs, they disrupt the body and cause many side effects. Stress puts a burden on the ADRENAL GLANDS causing them to overwork; therefore, the ADRENALS produce smaller amounts of hormones that are needed to help reduce the side effects of menopause. The hypothalamus is the area of the brain that regulates the heat producing mechanism of the body. Hot flashes can be the result of widespread blood vessel dilation when there is overwork/ stimulation of these glands.
Habits that Need to be Changed:
Daily lifestyle habits, such as eating patterns, exercise, mental, emotional and spiritual attitudes need strengthening. Also improper dressing must be corrected to ensure a balance or circulation throughout the entire system. Irregular hours of sleeping need to be corrected as adequate sleep and rest are essential for recharging the nervous system.
With good health habits following menopause, the ovaries continue to produce a reduced amount of estrogen and other glands take over. The ADRENALS begin to form a type of female hormone which is used along with the small amount of ovarian estrogen. With the right herbs, the body can continue producing the correct amount of hormones needed by the system; even the correct amount of progesterone is produced by other glands.
The LIVER needs to be strengthened and purified. The LIVER has the job of filtering toxins that prevent the blood from accumulating excess hormones. Diet change is helpful in cleaning the blood and bowels.
APPLYING GOD’S PLAN:
The following is suggested plans for helping the body re-establish right conditions in the system.
Simple Trust in God:
An abiding faith in a loving God will help you rest. Rest your life in His hands. He has made every provision to forgive every sin and cleanse every sinner of all our past mistakes. Ask Him. He promises to blot out all those mental records of sins in the heart, the love for sin, which tempts us.
He has also put Himself on record in the Bible to keep us from sinning and help us obey His laws from love, if we will only “be willing to be made willing”. He wants us to work our minds so that we want to do right, as well as to supply us with power so that we will, indeed obey Him. His laws are really promises. Every promise that He has made by way of a law, is part of our inheritance. (Deut. 33:4; Gal. 3:17-19) In order to start obtaining our inheritance from the heavenly Father, we must be “born again” or be adopted into His family. We then have the right to go by prayer to His throne in the courts of heaven and present our request to Jesus, the Executor-Mediator, of the estate. If we go by faith after repentance and dedication to Him, the request will be freely granted if our request is according to the “will” of God.
Open Air:
Pure fresh air is very important. That means good air with negatively ionized particles from forests and oceans, or a body of moving water out in nature. Breathe deeply as part of your exercises. Do not smoke tobacco or breathe second-hand smoke. Avoid smog and all chemicals, cleaning solutions, solvents, paint removers, insect sprays, deodorants, hair dyes, disinfectants, pest strips, etc. All these tax a system that is already trying to deal with internal changes and causes the transition to be that much more troublesome.
Daily Exercise:
“Exercise would in many cases be better for the health than medicine.”
Exercise is very important during menopause form many reasons. In particular, exercise may help reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes. As a result of the theory that impaired endorphin activity within the hypothalamus is a major factor in provoking hot flashes, researchers in Sweden designed a study to determine the effect of regular physical exercise on the frequency of hot flashes. In the study, the frequency of moderate and severe hot flashes was investigated in seventy-nine postmenopausal women who took part in physical exercise on a regular basis and was compared to that in a control group of 866 postmenopausal women between fifty-two and fifty-four years old. The study clearly demonstrated that regular physical exercise decreased the frequency and severity of hot flashes. The women in the exercising group passed through a natural menopause without the use of hormone replacement therapy. The physically active women who had no hot flashes whatsoever spend an average of 3.5 hours per week exercising, while women who exercised less than this amount were more likely to have hot flashes. Similar results, including mood elevation in pre, peri, and postmenopausal exercising versus sedentary women, have been reported in other studies. The benefits of exercise were experienced in women both on and off (Hormone Replacement Therapy: HRT).
The health benefits of regular exercise during menopause are numerous. Conditioning exercise is what is needed. This is the type of exercise that will increase your endurance gradually. You may use three things to help guide you in the intensity that you exercise:
- Learn what your safe ten-second pulse rate for your age should be during exercise. Learn how to count your ten second pulse beat and exercise up to that degree.
- Exercise to the intensity that you are barely able to carry on a conversation with someone as you exercise
- If you should develop chest pain during exercise, stop at that point. Follow the advice of your physician. Exercise a minimum of 20-30 minutes at the peak of endurance daily of at all possible, if not daily, at least every other day. The body forces seem to “escape” from good condition rather easily.
Walking is a good exercise. Act your age.
Begin a program of walking on the first day. Walk as far as is comfortable, gradually work up to five miles per day. Take two baths in the purest water possible without soap daily, dry brushing the skin before each shower or bath with a stiff brush.
Maintain good posture, standing, sitting or lying.
Some of the health benefits of exercise during menopause are:
- Decreased blood cholesterol levels
- Decreased bone loss
- Improved circulation
- Improved heart function
- Improved oxygen and nutrient utilization in all tissues
- Increased endurance and energy levels
- Increased self-esteem, mood, and frame of mind
- Reduced blood pressure
- Relief from hot flashes
Sunshine:
Sunshine has several benefits to the body. It furnishes the natural vitamin D and helps to lower cholesterol. The vitamin D that is produced through the process of the sun aids in calcium assimilation in the body. Sunlight increases the volume of oxygen in the blood. Start with 10-15 minutes exposure to face and hands daily up to 30-40 minutes daily and longer if your skin is darker. The body stores the vitamin D readily for over a week. The best times for sunbathing are the hours between 9:00am and 9:30am and 4:30p.m and 5:30p.m. Avoid burning. Also, to avoid the risk of skin cancer, reduce the free intake, such as oils, margarine and other foods of this nature. If would be best to avoid these foods altogether.
Proper Rest:
Get adequate restful sleep. Try to avoid stressful circumstances. Establish good habits and this will help. Anyone familiar with “jet lag” knows how well the body works with habits. A relaxing soak in warm water may help you unwind enough after a stressful day so that you will not need that harmful sleeping pill. Regular times for going to bed and rising will also help. The best time to go to bed is between 9:00- 9:30 p.m and no later. Adequate sleep and rest are essential for recharging the nervous system.
Lots of Water:
The body needs water for optimal function, drink daily eight to ten glasses of pure, distilled water, and more if you seat much. This will help your endurance and keep your system cool, as well as flush out toxins from your body. Drink water on arising, between meals, but early enough before bedtime so that you do not have to get up from sleep to empty your bladder. When you wake up, drink 2 glasses of water at room temperature with freshly squeezed lemon juice in it. For external use take tepid baths with 8 oz of unpasteurized apple cider vinegar mixed in, soak for 30-45 minutes. Drink pure water. Remember water is your internal and external coolant.
Always Temperate:
Live by the clock, especially during the first month of symptoms. Keep all things on schedule as much as possible: meals, bedtime, waking time, physical hygiene, study, work, prayer, etc. Avoid all coffee, soft drink beverages, tobacco, greasy foods, junk foods; sugary foods (as these will almost always lead to a flash), dairy, meat, etc. (See Known conditions contributing to health problem section). Avoid overeating even of the good foods – be moderate in the good foods and drinks. Do not overwork. Generally menopausal women need to drop the amount of calories eaten because of decreased metabolism. If it isn’t decreased, there is a large chance that weight gain is inevitable.
If whole grains and some tubers are added to the diet with lots of vegetables, including large vegetable salads and increased exercise, the body can compensate for the weight gain.
Nutrition:
At the risk of sounding redundant, avoid dairy, meat, fried, sugary, junky foods. The aim of the diet is to help you (1) avoid all refined foods; (2) select proper foods for adequate intake of balanced amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and trace elements; (3) choose types of nutrients which will help you lose weight as needed and clear the body of excess cholesterol and other unwanted materials that cause degeneration of the tissues.
Available yourself liberally of the following:
All fruit, preferable fresh, if fresh is not always available, canned in glass with water or fruit juice is the next best choice
All greens especially cabbage, broccoli, turnip greens, mustard greens, collard, or kale. Use spinach, Swiss chard, or beet greens sparingly because of oxalate content which may interfere with calcium absorption
All herbs that are mild
All legumes (beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas or garbanzo)
All whole grains. You need at least two kinds daily
Nuts in moderation. The better ones are the non-tropical nuts such as almonds, filberts, pecans and walnuts.
All nutritional needs on a preventative type diet can be secured from daily servings of the foods listed below:
- A citrus fruit plus a sub-citrus fruit
- A yellow vegetable such as squash, etc
- A green vegetable greens or herbs
- A legume
- A whole grain
- Tubers and nuts may be added as desired but sparingly on the nuts
Since there tends to be an estrogen deficiency, foods that are high in estrogen are listed below and should be included judiciously in the diet:
Fruits:
- Apples
- Bananas
- Cherries
- Olives
- Plums
Legumes:
- All Soy products
- Carob
- Colabar Beans
- Dried Beans
- Dried Peas
- Peanuts
- Soy Flour
Nuts:
- ALL Nuts, but preferably non tropical (see nutrition)
Vegetables:
- Carrots
- Eggplants
- Nightshade Family
- Peppers
- Pimentos
- Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes
- Tomatoes
- Yams
Grains:
- All Cereal Grains
- Barley
- Bran
- Brown Rice
- Corn
- Oatmeal
- Rye
- Wheat
- Wheat germ
Herbs and Seasonings:
- Alfalfa
- Anise
- Food Yeast
- Garlic
- Licorice Root
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Red Clover
- Red Raspberry Tea
- Sage
- Sisal
Food Supplements:
B- Complex vitamins will help in nervous disorders, especially B5 (helps in glandular function), B6 helps in water retention problems), and B12 (helps in stressful situations). Vitamin C with bioflavonoid helps in reducing hot flashes. Vitamin E helps in all symptoms of menopause especially diminishing hot flashes. A multi-vitamin and a multi-mineral supplement should be taken with meals; they help the body to produce its own hormones. Calcium and magnesium relieves stress and calms the nerves. Selenium is involved in balancing hormones. Silicon, Manganese and other trace minerals help the body to utilize calcium.
Supplement and Doses:
Enzymes with Hydrochloric Acid* (HCL) - Take w/meals as it aids with digestion.
Lecithin: 1 Capsule or 1 Tablespoon before meals. Important as an emulsifier for Vitamin E.
Primrose Oil or Black Currant oil - 1 Tablespoon daily or as directed on label. Acts as a sedative, diuretic, good for hot flashes. Important for production of estrogen.
Vitamin B6 - 50mg 3X a day. B6 minimizes water retention and eases Symptoms
Vitamin E: D-Alpha tocopherol - 800-1,600 IU daily
Calcium: 2000mg combined with 6000mg magnesium 1 x daily
Other Support:
Drink: Red Raspberry Tea (warm) no sweetener
Eat black mission figs and sunflower seeds daily.
Take one tablespoon blackstrap molasses each morning.
HERBAL DOSAGE - Take two (2) capsules of these herbs three times daily
Black Cohosh: The herbal female hormone. (If headaches occur, reduce amount)
Siberian Ginseng: Aids in relieving depression and stress. Aids in the production of estrogen
Dong Quai: Used in the treatment of female problems such as hot flashes, menopause and vaginal dryness.
Licorice: Stimulates estrogen production. (If you have high blood pressure or its tendencies, please do not take licorice)
Also DAMIANA, SAGE, SQUAW VINE, are helpful in treating menopause.
Special Note:
If itching in the vaginal area, use Vitamin E cream (no fragrance added) or open a vitamin E capsule and apply to that area. Marigold ointment from Nature works well to stop the itching almost immediately.
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