Why is it so hard to maintain one’s body weight after menopause? Some people would suspect a change in the hormonal levels for the gain in body mass. But what is more evident is the alteration in the mature person’s lifestyle.

Gone are the days when a woman is so full of energy to actively engage in various activities including exercise. The vigor though seems to have relocated in the eating habit, as the consumption of food becomes an amusing pastime. Moreover, as one ages lesser calories get burned as the body promotes the substitution of muscle with fat.

Then fat burns fewer calories than muscle and the more fat in your body, the slower its metabolism. The increase in weight could also be attributed to genetic factors if your relatives show the same tendency.

Being slightly overweight may not be uncomfortable for some, but putting on too much weight can cause real problems. You may know people who suffer from the consequences of obesity, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and osteoporosis.

Even worse is the possibility of stroke or heart attack that could lead to death. Moreover, the chances of high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes increase with weight gain. Unfortunately, there is a link between breast cancer and a post-menopausal weight-gain of twenty or more pounds.

How can a mature woman reverse the weight increase phenomenon? Since decrased activity and increased food consumption cause one to gain weight, doing the opposite is a sure way to lose weight. What this means is that you need to start up a workout routine to assist in transforming your fat into muscle.

Aerobic exercises and weight trainings are fun but effective means of losing weight. Meanwhile, if exercise is too strenuous, then one can do any physical activity that will get her to move to the groove, dancing, biking, or just simply walking.

On the other hand, one may still enjoy delicious meals and snacks as long as the calories and the choice of food are being carefully monitored. Moderation is always to the best of the persons interest.

In the end, prevention is always the best and cheapest medicine. Consequently, one doesn’t have to wait for menopause to cram on weight loss programs. While still young, one should focus on maintaining the ideal weight by eating the right kind of food that promotes proper nutrition. The key to good health throughout life is patience and discipline. Menopause or not, maintain that healthy body and weight with the right attitude.

Post from: Herbal Remedies For Menopause

Weight Gain After Menopause and How to Avoid it

There are a number of health risks that increase during menopause, and many of these risks are exacerbated by a poor diet.

Studies show a reduction in the creation of estrogen and progesterone in women prior to reaching menopause. These hormones also play an important role in bone health, while we tend to think of these almost exclusively in terms of their roles as female reproductive hormones.

Decreases in estrogen levels accompany a reduction in a woman’s bone density. This decline actually starts well before menopause, especially in women with inadequate intakes of calcium and vitamin D during the crucial young adult years of bone formation. The loss of bone density is greatly accelerated during menopause, making women up to seven times more likely to fracture a bone than men, and putting them at risk of osteoporosis.

If she is not already active but during menopause, a woman’s metabolism also begins to slow down it especially. Digestion of food becomes sluggish, causing greater absorption of nutrients from food. Unfortunately, this also means that bad fats, sugars, and other processed food items will have a greater impact on a menopausal woman’s health.

The reduction in women’s reproductive hormones along with alterations in digestive and metabolic function may produce increases in weight. In combination with these other changes, weight gain also puts menopausal women at greater risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and related conditions. The helpful news is that consuming a balanced mealplan in menopause may help lower the odds of acquiring conditions of brittle bones and cardiovascular disease.

The key to a healthful diet that can help stave off osteoporosis, weight gain, and associated health complications, is balance. Start by eating at least three nutritious meals each day. Eating more frequent, smaller meals is even better. Avoid focusing too much on calories, and instead pay attention to reasonable portion sizes and eating foods that pack a lot of nutrients into few calories. Some examples are leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and brightly colored red and yellow vegetables. A daily multi-vitamin is also a good idea to ensure adequate intake of important nutrients.

Fiber will serve to fight sluggish metabolism by helping to get food moving through your digestive tract. Helps curb excess weight gain and this promotes digestive health. Whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables are nutritious foods that are high in fiber. Increase the fiber in your diet, and decrease the fat and fried food. Restrict general consumption of fat to under 30% of total calorie consumption.

Some fats, though, are essential for good health. Do include sources of omega 3 fatty acids. Some common food sources of omega 3 are salmon and other cold water fish, seeds, and nuts, especially walnuts. Omega 3 fatty acids help reduce inflammation, and can minimize certain bothersome symptoms of menopause.

For managing common symptoms of menopause like hot flashes and irritability, try reducing or eliminating caffeine and spicy foods from your diet. Avoid excess sugar, especially corn syrup and other highly-processed foods.

Drinking water can also help fight hot flashes. It also be great to eat foods rich in plant phytoestrogens (beans and other legumes, apples, potatoes, and carrots.) Soy also contains high levels of phytoestrogens, and there are many tasty flavored drinks, yogurts, and even frozen desserts, that contain soy.

Strive for this amount even if you’re younger than age 50 that the recommended daily allowance for calcium for women over age 50 is 1200 mg. Be sure that your intake of calcium is adequate. Vitamin D helps absorb calcium, thus consuming reduced-fat dairy items with added vitamin D is a smart pick. To prevent osteoporosis, it is advisable to increase the calcium in your diet.

Good nutrition during menopause will greatly lessen the risks of weight gain, osteoporosis, and additional health issues. A healthy diet will also provide you with more energy, and can help you reduce or eliminate troublesome symptoms of menopause.

Post from: Herbal Remedies For Menopause

Ways to Lose Weight After Menopause

We all have heard about the inevitability of death and taxes and yet there is one other inevitable event, for women anyway. Around the age of 40-50, females have a change taking place in their lives and bodies that is known as menopause. Hormones begin to shift and the levels change, which brings about some exciting and empowering events.

According to doctors, this is a natural phenomenon that happens as you leave child-bearing years behind and move into a bright new time of life. You will begin to experience power surges (hot flashes), great depth of feeling (mood swings) and your body takes on new curves (excess weight).

This seems a bit unfair to have to deal with excess pounds on top of all of the other symptoms, but nonetheless it happens. One of the reasons that menopause predisposes us to weight gain is because our natural estrogen levels begin to decrease during these years.

Over a third of most women between the ages of 45 and 50 are shown to gain a minimum of 5 pounds, although the most reliable studies indicate that actual menopausal weight gain is between 10 and 15 pounds. Less than half of all women in the studies maintained their same weight throughout the menopausal years and this was only through extreme dieting and determination.

Weight control is important because increased weight can increase the chance for diseases such as high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease. Exercise is a key factor which helps in maintaining proper weight, and the females should be involved with the cardiac activities as well as weight training.

The diet for women who are in the menopausal age range should be packed with nutrients and be well balanced. Even before menopause symptoms occur, women should be eating fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and calcium containing foods on a daily basis.

If you want a healthy life, free of many of the most common menopausal symptoms, adjust your diet to include healthy foods including all of the necessary vitamins and minerals.

Some foods you should avoid are: sugar, processed foods, salt, edamame (soybeans), soy based products like tofu.

You will fly right through menopause when you add these healthy foods to your diet and acquire more daily activity. When you are in the second half of your life, you can certainly have some of your best years due to the cumulative experiences you’ve had.

Products that should be in your Diet: Vitamins A, D, C and E, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, fiber, phytoestrogens, and isoflavones; cottage cheese; yogurt; seafood, especially fish; fresh berries and other fruits; whole-wheat cereals and breads; leafy greens like spinach, kale, and broccoli.

When you bring a new healthy diet and exercise program into your life you can meet those menopausal months with a bright smile. Many of those annoying symptoms can be decreased or eliminated and you can sail through this normal transition in style. With increased activity and natural, whole foods it is possible to make this new time in your life the best and most productive years of all.

Post from: Herbal Remedies For Menopause

How to Design a Healthy Menopausal Diet

As it is for most women, when menopause arrives, you may notice notice weight gain, even without any change in your diet or exercise routine. When dealing with the menopause, you need to remember that your body is going through a big change.

Your body’s production of estrogen has dropped and you will find that as it does so, you may be in a place where you are putting on more weight. As your body changes, the steps that you need to take to make sure that it stays healthy and fit is going to change as well.

You have to consider that your habits varies from your adolescence and adulthood. It’s understandable that a change needs to happen both before and after menopause.

The way that body fat is distributed has a lot to do with menopause, and you will find that with that in mind the decline of estrogen levels can increase fat around the middle in women, something that can happen even if the total body weight remains the same. It is very common to gain weight around menopause. Genetics may play a real role in your shape as well as an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Many women retire around this stage, and that can play a role as well.

Remember though, that there are definitely things that you can do to lose weight during and after menopause. First make sure that you are getting all the nutrients that you need. Getting calcium into your system is quite important as the reduction in estrogen will start taking away from your calcium deposits. Similarly making sure that you are going to get magnesium in your diet will help you get the calcium to where it needs to go.

Beyond that, start keeping a food journal. It is always good idea to make sure that you know what you are eating and how it is affecting you. This is a time in your life when your body is going through a lot of changes and where it is certainly going to have different needs. Look for a diet that is high in fresh fruits and vegetables, and at the end of the day, this is something that can go a long way towards keeping you healthier over all.

Similarly, remember that exercise is going to play a large role in what you need to do to keep your body fit and trim. Take some time and really find an exercise that appeals to you.

It is the best span in your life to be extra energetic and to remain energetic, hence think for a while and actually think what your choices will be. Find an exercise regimen that appeals to you. Crossing it with things that will help you to move forward is a great idea.

Think what your body wants, weight loss is possible through and after the menopause only if you completely know your body.

Post from: Herbal Remedies For Menopause

Weight Loss During and After Menopause, Useful Tips