Unlock these 4 Natural Ways To Treat Menopause

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Is hormone replacement therapy for every woman? 

Aren't there more "natural" options? 

The answer is yes, and yes. 

Some women are not good candidates for hormone replacement therapy or aren't comfortable taking it; this might be due to a lack of education about the safety and protective benefits or availability.

But that doesn't mean you can't reduce or eliminate suffering from hormonal symptoms during menopause. You still have a lot to say about how you feel by implementing four ways to treat menopause. 

But you won't get the protective benefits when you're not using bioidentical hormone therapy. Bioidentical hormone therapy can help treat menopause symptoms, providing protective benefits to you. 

Menopause is a natural biological process. It marks the end of a woman's reproductive years. So while some women experience few or no symptoms during menopause, many experience physical and emotional symptoms. Let's look at what you can do daily to manage hormonal changes during and after menopause.

You've got to MOVE

Regular exercise can help reduce hot flashes, improve mood, promote better sleep, and it also aids in weight loss. But the type of exercise we do in midlife is essential. So women in midlife don't necessarily benefit from moderate activity as much as from workouts that are higher intensity, shorter, and with heavy lifting.

The reason is that these exercises will stimulate your central nervous system to do what it needs to do when it's not operating on estrogen. And so when we do a steady state workout, like forty-five minutes of a jog or forty-five minutes on an elliptical, we are not moving the needle enough to give the stimulus we need. It can work against us because it can raise cortisol levels. 

The best exercise to help with menopausal symptoms and also reduce belly fat and reduce the risk of osteoporosis and sarcopenia, which is muscle loss, is weight training. Lifting heavy is key, along with short bouts of HIIT training. That would be high-intensity interval training.

So the key with HIIT is to get breathless, work hard for a short period, recover, and repeat that over and over. These exercises help with menopause symptoms, overall health, and weight loss. 

IT'S ALL ABOUT BALANCE

The second thing you want to keep in mind is keeping your blood sugar regulated. 

Keeping blood sugar balanced may take some finessing, but it all starts with adequate protein. In midlife, you need more protein than before and you need it at every meal and snack. Supplementation may be necessary to get enough protein (20-30g at each meal), especially alongside a workout routine.

NATURAL HORMONE SUPPORT

In menopause, estrogen levels decrease, so eating plenty of vegetables, green leafy, and cruciferous are essential for support. These vegetables contain phytoestrogens, which help balance estrogen.

Phytoestrogens like flax & chia seeds, chickpeas, lentils, oats, apples and berries, and omega-three foods are crucial for brain, mood, and hormone production. They also help reduce inflammation, another issue we have in midlife. Fish oil or consuming salmon, mackerel, sardines, walnuts, avocados, and flax seeds boost your body's Omega 3s. 

You can get a nice progesterone boost by consuming beans like lentils, kidneys, pinto, and black beans. 

And we always remember superfoods like bee pollen, which can support bladder and stomach bloat, and Gogi berries, which help with longevity, eyesight, and mood. Spirulina can help with anti-aging and cellular regeneration. Spirulina can help you feel calmer and more balanced and help with hot flashes, PMS, painful breasts, and those raging hormones. It is ridiculously high in protein and B12 and contains iron, beta-carotene, calcium, magnesium, and chlorophyll.

All these foods, eaten regularly, can help reduce menopausal symptoms. 

Herbs are another way—like Maca, ashwagandha, and Black Cohosh. Check with your physician when you're using herbs because there are some medications you want to be careful when combining with medication. 

I have been using Maca for the last couple of years, and I love a product called Mighty Maca from Dr. Anna Cabeca. I started using it a couple of years ago because it combines greens, Maca, and superfoods to support hormones, adrenals, and detoxification. It gives my body the nutrients for more balance and better energy.

Detoxification in midlife is also important to mitigate these hormonal symptoms. So making sure the liver is supported and giving your gut good fiber so that you're feeding your good bacteria will help your body to detoxify and eliminate excess hormones better.

STRESS IS NOT YOUR FRIEND

Stress can worsen menopausal symptoms, so finding ways to manage stress is crucial. I like to manage my stress through meditation, yoga, and deep breathing. 

Deep breathing is so easy; it helps shift you out of fight or flight and enables you to calm down and manage life better.

Consider adding breathing exercises into your daily routine - two or three times a day; set your timer for five minutes and do some deep breathing. Deep breathing is very protective of the brain as well. 

In midlife, we will have life stressors, but we also have hormone stressors. And if we're not sleeping, eating well, overeating, undereating, overexercising, or exercising in a fasted state, all these are stressors. And because estrogen opposes cortisol and keeps cortisol low, our cortisol levels tend to be slightly higher as the estrogen declines.

Any stress on the body can impact cortisol levels. So stress and high cortisol levels sometimes are a reason for that belly fat that we begin to gain in midlife because the higher the cortisol levels, the more your insulin levels are impacted.

Look for the apparent stressors like too much caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and refined foods that cause our blood sugar to spike and plummet. These foods and drinks impact cortisol levels, and we want to manage all of this stress by keeping caffeine and alcohol to moderate amounts and avoiding the sugar in processed foods. 

So while all these natural ways can help alleviate menopausal symptoms, and they can increase your quality of life in menopause. As I said in the beginning, you're not getting the protective benefits of bioidentical hormone therapy. Scientific studies show that using BHRT protects the brain against Alzheimer's, the breast against breast cancer, and the heart against cardiovascular disease, the number one killer of women over 50.

So if you aren't in a place right now to get on BHRT, I would suggest using the above principles to give your body what it needs to deal with declining hormone levels and continue educating yourself on how to best protect yourself in mid-life. And beyond. 

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