The Wisdom of Menopause

by Christiane Northrup

  Eat a Wide Variety of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Daily

  You want to shoot for at least five servings a day, but it’s easy, at least in the summer, to get in more. Remember that a serving is small, as little as 4 ounces or ½ cup in many cases. The healthiest fruits and vegetables are the ones that are the most colorful. That’s because the pigments in these foods, such as the carotenes or carotenoids, are very powerful antioxidants. Go for broccoli; red, yellow, and green peppers; dark green leafy vegetables such as collards, kale, and spinach; and tomatoes. Pigment-rich blueberries have been found to have the highest concentration of antioxidants compared to forty other fruits and vegetables.

  Studies suggest that the carotenoid content of tissue may be the most significant factor in determining life span in primates, including humans.34 Though beta-carotene (the vitamin A precursor found in carrots, other yellow-orange vegetables, and dark leafy greens) has received the most attention and is the carotenoid most commonly found in multivitamins, other carotenes that have little or no vitamin A–type activity exert much greater antioxidant protection. Alphacarotene (usually found in the same foods as beta-carotene) is approximately 38 percent stronger as an antioxidant and ten times more effective in suppressing liver, skin, and lung cancer in animals.35 Even more powerful is lycopene, the red pigment found in tomatoes. Some studies have shown a 50 percent reduction for all cancers among elderly Americans reporting a high tomato intake.36 Food processing doesn’t destroy lycopene, so tomato juice and canned tomato products also offer protection.

  Every day the list of benefits from the natural antioxidants found in pigment-rich foods grows. They help balance hormones, protect the skin from sun damage, keep the skin and eyes radiant, maintain the lining of the blood vessels, and help prevent varicose veins. They also boost the immune system and help the body resist cancer and other degenerative diseases.

  In addition to being good sources of cholesterol-lowering fiber, fruits and vegetables are also good sources of lignans, which are metabolized into phytohormones that help balance hormones and metabolize excess estrogen. Flaxseed is by far the richest source of lignans and is also very rich in essential omega-3 fats (see Flaxseed: Super Source of Lignans, Fiber,

  and Omega-3 Fats).

  High-glycemic-index fruits and vegetables such as potatoes, corn, and bananas have a lot of nutrients in them, though their antioxidant content isn’t as rich as that of the foods I’ve mentioned previously. You don’t have to eliminate them completely. Just remember that the more processed they are, the higher their glycemic index. A baked potato is an entirely different food from a potato chip or french fry, and it is far healthier. And fresh corn on the cob in season is a better choice than canned creamed corn, which is often processed with added sugar in the form of corn syrup. Though fresh vegetables are always the best choice, research has shown that even canned and frozen varieties still contain many nutrients.

  QUELL YOUR SUGAR CRAVINGS WITH SMART SUGARS

  Most women find that their sugar cravings go away or are greatly reduced once they have stabilized their blood sugar. This can be done either with a low-glycemic-index diet or by keeping total sugar consumption to 15 grams per day or so. Cravings will generally cease in a couple of days. And believe me, this feels wonderful. Some women are helped during this phase by also supplementing with the amino acid L-glutamine, which appears to help prevent the mental fatigue that can result from sugar withdrawal. (Take 1 g per day with lunch.) Some research also suggests that L-glutamine helps alcoholics avoid alcohol—the ultimate sugar buzz.37

  You don’t have to forgo sweetness for the rest of your life, however. There are now more safe non-nutritive sweeteners available than ever before.

  My favorite is stevia, an extract from the leaves of the South American plant Stevia rebaudiana. It’s easy to grow in your garden, and the leaves can be added to iced tea or lemonade. (See www.stevia.com for growing information.) A wide variety of extracts from stevia leaves are now available as well, in both liquid and powder form. These include Truvia, which is being added to commercially available foods like soda pop. Some stevia preparations have a bitter aftertaste, but I have found that Truvia and NuStevia do not. Stevita is the brand name of a company that makes a variety of stevia-sweetened extracts that add delicious flavor to coffee and other foods. A number of animal studies have shown that stevia also improves the lipid profile in obese mice that consume it. It has yet to be determined if this benefit holds true for humans.38

  Other safe sweeteners include the sugar alcohols. Despite their name, they are neither sugars nor alcohols, but carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed. Hence, they’re not converted into stored energy and they don’t need to be counted as carbs in one’s diet. They also don’t cause cavities. Sugar alcohols include sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol, and erythritol. Sorbitol and maltitol can cause gastrointestinal upset, including gas and bloating, if you eat too much of them. Xylitol and erythritol don’t have this effect.

  Agave nectar has gotten a lot of publicity as a low-glycemic-index sweetener. Derived from a succulent grown in Mexico, agave nectar is highly refined and has more fructose in it than high-fructose corn syrup. Research suggests that it will trigger the same insulin response as sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup. I don’t use it.

  All the common artificial sweeteners are just plain bad for you. They include aspartame (NutraSweet—blue packet), saccharin (Sweet’N Low—pink packet), and sucralose (Splenda—yellow packet). Avoid them.

  Eat Healthy Fats Each Day

  For thirty years, health experts have been pushing the idea that lowering dietary fat will lower your risk for cardiovascular disease—but the truth is that they’ve missed the mark by a mile. I’m not saying that eating gobs of lard is healthy. Far from it! But as Americans have jumped on the low-fat and nonfat chuck wagon over the past several decades, heart disease has not made a hasty retreat. Partly this is because food manufacturers replaced much of their saturated fats with trans fats, which we now know to be deadly. The other reason is that when Americans cut fat out of their diets, they tend to eat more carbs (and usually the wrong kind) to compensate. A 2010 meta-analysis from Harvard that looked at eight trials following a total of more than 13,000 participants showed that rather than simply lowering fats, shifting to eating more polyunsaturated fats in place of some saturated fats would reduce coronary heart disease risk by 19 percent.39 It’s ironic but true: the low-fat craze has actually made Americans fatter.

  That’s a big reason why obesity is now at an all-time high—the experts have been telling us to eat the wrong foods all along. And it certainly didn’t help that the food industry was able to successfully pressure the USDA into putting bread and grains at the base of the original food pyramid, suggesting Americans eat six to eleven servings a day! While the food pyramid has been replaced with much better guidelines, these guidelines still stress too many breads and grains for my liking.

  In addition to encouraging weight gain and increasing risk for heart disease, cutting out fats has other health consequences. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, when the low-fat craze reached its peak, I watched patient after patient come in complaining of sallow skin, brittle fingernails, difficulty fighting infections, inability to concentrate, and fatigue. None of these women were getting enough healthy fat in their diets, having been brainwashed into thinking that all fat was the enemy. Now we know differently.

  Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are indispensable for human development and health. Our bodies cannot synthesize EFAs, so we need to consume them in our foods. There are two essential types of EFAs: omega-6 fats and omega-3 fats. Omega-6 fats occur in relative abundance in the foods we eat. However, the current low-fat American diet is woefully deficient in omega-3 fats. In addition, because of agricultural practices, the fats in eggs and meat do not contain nearly the percentage of omega-3 fats that they used to. Farm animals raised on wild grasses instead of grain have a healthier, leaner body composition. Animals, like human
s, get fat on diets composed mostly of grain, especially if they aren’t allowed to roam.

  WHAT SHOULD I DRINK?

  The answer is water, pure and simple. Too many women avoid water in the mistaken belief that they will put on weight if they drink too much. Then they end up dehydrated, and it shows in their skin. In fact, you need lots of water to help your body eliminate the breakdown products of fat if you are trying to lose weight.

  If you can’t stand the regular flat kind, go with designer waters with lime or another flavor. Iced tea is another healthy choice. I keep a pitcher of decaffeinated green tea in the refrigerator at all times. It’s loaded with antioxidants, and it contains phytohormones that have been shown to build bone. I also like fresh crushed mint leaves and club soda with a little stevia—a healthy virgin mojito!

  Omega-3 deficiency often begins in utero, when our only source of these fats is our mothers, who are likely to be deficient in them already. Ideally, the omega-3 fats, particularly a fat known as DHA, are found abundantly in human breast milk, but DHA is absent in the baby formulas used in the United States and Canada. Research is rapidly accumulating that implicates DHA deficiency in the epidemic of attention deficit disorder in both children and adults. This essential fat is also one of the reasons why children who were breast-fed as infants have been found to have higher IQs than formula-fed babies.40 Gratifying improvements in learning ability and mood stabilization have resulted when both children and adults have had their diets supplemented with omega-3 fats.

  In addition to their role in nervous system and brain function, omega-3 fats also favor the production of substances known as series 1 and 3 eicosanoids, which help block the effects of cellular inflammation. It’s not surprising, then, that supplementing the diet with omega-3 fats in either foods or pills has been shown to alleviate conditions associated with eicosanoid imbalance, including arthritis, PMS, eczema, breast tenderness, acne, diabetes, brittle fingernails, thinning and brittle hair, psoriasis, dry skin, and the sex hormone imbalance so common during perimenopause.

  Good sources of omega-3 fats include pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flaxseed or flaxseed oil, hempseed or hempseed oil, organ meats, cold-water fish or fish oil supplements, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplements. Nuts are also a good source, and they make a very satisfying low-carb snack—I take them to the movies in lieu of high-carb popcorn. Just make sure you enjoy them in moderation—no more than a handful once or twice per day. Raw chia seed is another excellent source and has a higher concentration of omega-3 fats than any other plant source (see Resources).

  Trans Fats: The Bad Actors of the Fat World

  The most dangerous fats by far are the trans fats—the partially hydrogenated fats and oils that aren’t found anywhere in nature. They are present in shortening and margarine, which are made by blowing hydrogen into liquid vegetable oil at very high temperatures and pressures. Trans fats contribute directly to the overproduction of pro-inflammatory eicosanoids and have therefore been found to contribute to the development of cancer and heart disease.

  Unfortunately, trans fats are added to just about every type of packaged baked good because they don’t get rancid nearly as quickly as unprocessed fats. This prolongs the shelf life of the product. Since such products are also invariably high in refined carbs, it’s best to simply eliminate them from your life. (If you have them once in a while, pray over them first.) The good news is that food manufacturers must now add information about trans fat content to labels.

  Saturated Fat: An Overrated Threat

  Saturated fat, as mentioned above, is not the culprit we’ve made it out to be as far as heart disease is concerned. The bottom line: if you’re following a diet that keeps your insulin and blood sugar levels normal, then saturated fat isn’t likely to become a problem. After all, the epidemic of heart disease didn’t start in this country until margarine and shortening—which are trans fats, not saturated fats—were added to the diet back in the 1940s. Before that, lard and butter were widely used, and heart disease was rare. Some women, however, are sensitive to the arachidonic acid found in dairy foods, eggs, and beef, which contributes to cellular inflammation, and in turn to menstrual cramps and arthritis. The symptoms go away when they eliminate these foods. Other women have no problem. As with all things, I’d suggest that you enjoy saturated fat in moderation.

  You don’t have to count fat grams if you are keeping your carb intake relatively low. In the absence of excess insulin, it appears that fat in your diet is not stored as fat. But the minute that fat is combined with sugar or starch—as in a doughnut, for example—the pounds pack on.

  Cooking and Salad Oils

  Most salad and cooking oils contain omega-6 fats, and since an excess of omega-6 fats can lead to the overproduction of proinflammatory chemicals in cells, I suggest that you limit their use. Substitute flaxseed oil or olive oil whenever possible. (Olive oil is a monounsaturated omega-9 fat with metabolic effects that are neutral when it comes to eicosanoid balance.) You can also use a little clarified butter—also known as ghee—for cooking, since it won’t burn at low temperatures like regular butter. My favorite salad dressing is made by mixing a little balsamic vinegar with some high-quality olive oil. For variety, try light sesame or nut oils.

  EDUCATE YOURSELF

  All of the following books contain meal plans and recipes that have helped thousands of women lose or maintain their weight. All of them will help balance hormones as well as insulin and will help decrease cellular inflammation. I recommend that you go to a library or your local bookstore and look through a few of them. Then choose the one that speaks to you.

  The Belly Fat Cure (Hay House, 2009), and The Belly Fat Cure Fast Track (Hay House, 2011), both by Jorge Cruise

  The Midlife Miracle Diet (Viking, 2003), by Adele Puhn

  Healthy for Life: Developing Healthy Lifestyles That Have a Side Effect of Permanent Fat Loss (Real Life Press, 2005), by Ray Strand, M.D.

  Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook (Health Communications, 1999), by Diana Schwarzbein, Nancy Deville, and Evelyn Jacob Jaffe

  Recipes for Change: Gourmet Wholefood Cooking for Health and Vitality at Menopause (Dutton, 1996), by Lissa DeAngelis and Molly Siple

  The No-Grain Diet (Dutton, 2003), by Joseph Mercola with Alison Rose Levy

  The New Glucose Revolution: The Authoritative Guide to the Glycemic Index—the Dietary Solution for Lifelong Health (Marlowe & Company, 2006), by Jennie Brand-Miller, Thomas Wolever, Kaye Foster-Powell, and Stephen Colagiuri

  Living Low Carb: Controlled-Carbohydrate Eating for Long-Term Weight Loss (Sterling Press, 2010), by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., CNS

  THE RESET PROGRAM

  For a quick but scientifically sound program that will help you get off the sugar roller coaster, I recommend the RESET program by USANA. This five-day, high-fiber cleanse is designed to decrease tissue inflammation, eliminate glycemic stress, and reset your metabolism.

  Here’s how the program works: you drink three shakes a day at mealtimes, eat a nutrition bar for a midmorning and midafternoon snack, and you eat one serving of fruit and one serving of vegetables anytime during the day. (All the low-glycemic shakes and nutrition bars you need for the five-day plan are included in the RESET kit, as are enough high-potency vitamins for the five days of the program—the same vitamins I take as part of my daily regimen.) You also need to drink eight to ten glasses of water daily, in addition to getting moderate exercise (such as walking for 20–30 minutes or following the routine on the 30-minute exercise video included with the program). Although some women experience tolerable hunger, most don’t feel hungry or have food cravings because the shakes and bars provide the perfect balance of high-quality proteins, fats, and low-glycemic carbs to keep blood sugar levels stable. The fat you eat on this or any other low-glycemic food plan will not be stored in the body as fat—unless your body is overproducing insulin because of the effects of stress or an excess of food.41 The average weight loss for the five-day period is f
ive pounds, mostly from losing the excess fluid so common in people with high insulin levels; even better, this weight loss tends to be most noticeable in the abdominal area, where insulin-resistant women commonly gain the most fat! Many women also find the program gives them more energy than usual. And their sugar cravings disappear because blood sugar becomes stable. (For more information, visit www.usana.com.)

  After the initial five days, I highly recommend that you continue the plan to lose more weight. Keep using the meal replacement shakes and bars for two meals and two snacks a day, having one low-glycemic meal and snack on your own. Once you reach your weight-loss goal, use the shakes and bars for one meal each day as a maintenance program. Be patient … it can take two to three weeks for some women to get results! Please note that the RESET program works well for the majority of women. For a select few, however, the amount of sugar in the shakes and bars—even though they are low-glycemic-index products—may be too high.

  Revival soy shakes and bars are another excellent line of low-glycemic-index meal replacement products that have worked well for thousands of people. A 2010 study showed that a group of postmenopausal, obese women who drank one Revival soy shake per day for three months decreased their total belly fat by 7.5 percent and their subcutaneous belly fat by about 9 percent. The control group drank a placebo protein shake for the same amount of time and increased total belly fat by 9 percent and subcutaneous belly fat by 10 percent.42 (For more information, visit www.revivalsoy.com.)