You may be wondering who am I to be helping you out and what do I know?
Well, what I do know is that at least once per day I get asked a question about menopause and what can be done to help…
What I also know, is one of my dearest friends is Dr Andrea Huddleston from Wellness Women’s Radio. A world leader in women’s health.
So, what I have decided to do this week is speak to Dr Andrea and get her Top Tips on how to manage the menopause and hopefully keep you fabulous women fit and healthy this September (and beyond).
I interviewed Dr Andrea on one of the early episodes of my podcast and I remember speaking about the menopause and one thing she said really stuck with me.
‘Normal menopause is 12 months, no period, and no symptoms’.
You can check out this podcast episode here.
“Wouldn’t that be great” I hear you all saying.
Well, here are Dr Andrea’s Top Tips to help you. Enjoy!
Menopause Tips:
Targeted Lifestyle Changes
- Avoid coffee and stimulants (coffee has been shown to lower estradiol levels – the good oestrogen). Try organic decaf or herbal tea.
- Cut out gluten – this is non-negotiable! There is a very strong link between oestrogen levels, ovarian function and gluten sensitivity and gut function. NO MORE GLUTEN!
- Include some whole soy i.e. tofu, miso, tempeh.
- Increase FIBRE! Aim for 2 cups of vegetables/meal.
- Add flaxseeds to your meal. Flaxseeds contain lignans, an oestrogen like chemical that also has antioxidant effects. In fact, one study showed that eating two tablespoons of flaxseed/day for 6 weeks reduced hot flushes by half! Add the flaxseeds to your morning smoothie and to your salads.
- Orgasm! Female orgasms and stimulation helps to raise estradiol levels 🙂
- Go gently with exercise – over exercising will decrease your oestrogen levels even further. This means no running or jogging at the moment, brisk walks instead, stationary bike, cross trainers etc are fine. Please ensure you’re moving your body daily! Weight bearing exercises like lunges, squats etc are brilliant.
- Add Maca to your morning smoothie (i’ve added a recipe for you below). Maca has been shown to improve hot flushes, anxiety, mood swings and other menopausal symptoms in women.
- Avoid alcohol as much as possible.
- Controlled breathing: box breathing i.e. breath in for the count of 5, hold for 5 and out for the count of 5 performed for 10 minutes per day has been shown to reduce hot flushes by 40%.
Supplementation:
- Magnesium – shown to reduce hot flashes, fatigue, distress and sleeplessness in menopausal women.
- Oestrogen Lifting Herbs – herbs such as zizyphyus, tree peony, rehmannia, Chinese yam etc work to aid in reducing hot flashes, insomnia etc.
- Vitamin E – This is the oldest remedy in the book for assisting symptoms of low oestrogen!
Breakfast Smoothie Recipe:
- Almond Milk
- Good quality protein powder (organic if possible, i can point you in the right direction if you need)
- Handful of frozen, mixed berries
- 2,000mg Maca
- 2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder
- Tablespoon of cold pressed olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon of flaxseeds (ground or whole
I hope this helps and if you want to find out more about Dr Andrea then please visit her website and as many of our Epochers have done before, reach out to her for help and advice.
www.drandrea.com.au
With love
Tom
