to a natural balanced menopause · unexplained weight gain? Worried about what you might be heading...

stepsto a natural balanced menopausenourish. move. breathe. rest. connect.

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2 © Natural Menopause Help www.NaturalMenopauseHelp.com

breathe rest connect

contentsIntroduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................4

Nourish ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Move ............................................................................................................................................................................................................11

Breathe ...................................................................................................................................................................................................13

Rest ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................15

Connect ...................................................................................................................................................................................................19

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................................................21.

nourish move 11

13 15

6

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3© Natural Menopause Help www.NaturalMenopauseHelp.com

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copyrightThis ebook provides health information in an

educational and general manner. The con-

tents of this ebook are a guide only, intended

to assist you and other readers in your per-

sonal quest to find natural balance during

menopause. Consult your physician or trained

health professional regarding the applicabil-

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Nothing in this ebook should be construed as

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medical disclaimer


introductionHave you heard horror menopause stories or are you in the middle of one? Have you or someone you know experienced meno-

pause symptoms like menstrual flooding, night sweats that leave you drenched and exhausted, anxiety and emotional issues, or

unexplained weight gain? Worried about what you might be heading into?

My intention with this ebook is to support you mov-

ing into a naturally balanced menopause whether

you are in your 30s, 40s, or 50s. It’s my unwavering

belief that addressing diet, lifestyle, and stress can

improve more than 90% of hormonal imbalances

in women…some women may need and seek extra

support with herbs and supplements or bio identi-

cal hormone replacement. Still others choose to

take hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Whatever

path you choose, you can find simple ways in this

ebook to support your own body’s desire for gentle

balance, wholeness, and health. Let’s start now.

Balancing hormones, especially in menopause, can

be like walking a tightrope - poor sleep, too much

tea, coffee, alcohol, stress, or convenience food, and

oops.... you’re falling. Sometimes we need to crash

to realize what it feels like! But small, manageable

changes to the way you eat, move, breathe, relax,

and love can help keep you on the tightrope of daily life with more ease and grace than you ever thought possible. This is the

essence of what I want to share with you.

eno – pause comes from the Greek word

“meno” meaning monthly and “pause” or stop

and is considered to be 12 months from the

date of your last period. Menopause is not an

estrogen deficiency disease, nor is it a disease

of aging. It is a natural part of the life cycle and can be a time

of big upheaval. Many women with children find that they are

going through menopause when their kids are going through

puberty or leaving home, whilst at the same time caring for

aging parents. Others find that their relationship with their

partner goes through shifts and turns that can be unexpected

and traumatic. Add your personal and family concerns with the

collective problems of the world and you see problems that

connect all women everywhere.

These life stories are interconnected with the many symptoms you might be experiencing right now. Addressing your mind, body, and spirit gives you the best chance of finding the right pathway through menopause with the least number of casual-ties.

Many of the physiological symptoms you might have expe-

rienced in your reproductive years that might be magnified

now in early menopause is an imbalance between the sex hor-

mones estrogen and progesterone and the interplay between

other hormones, particularly the stress hormone cortisol pro-

duced by the adrenal glands.

M


ithout getting too technical, the simple

explanation for this imbalance is as follows.

As you enter your 40s many women have

monthly cycles where you don’t ovulate and

you might not be aware of this. If you aren’t

ovulating you are not producing progesterone. This creates a

relative imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, lead-

ing to estrogen excess and a likely progesterone deficiency.

Progesterone is considered the mother or all hormones as it

is the building block of estrogens, testosterone, and the stress

hormone cortisol and aldosterone which balances fluid and

sodium concentration. Progesterone’s effects on the body

are numerous: It helps use fat for energy, is a natural anti-

depressant, restores sex drive, normalizes blood sugar levels,

and many other functions. So it is not surprising that a lack

of progesterone with estrogen dominance can cause many

health problems.

At this time you might experience PMS-type symptoms

such as weight gain, water retention, and mood swings.

Perimenopause, or the early symptoms of menopause, can

begin in your mid 30s to late 40s and is intimately connected

with nutrition, environmental toxins, and stress levels. As Dr.

Christiane Northrup describes in her book, The Wisdom of

Menopause, perimenopause is the “mother of all wake-up

calls”.

Luckily for women, your body’s inner wisdom signals any imbalances in your mind/body via the monthly cycle. This is the time that unresolved emotional issues bubble up to your consciousness, not discounting the actual physical hormonal fluctuations taking place. Taking heed of these early wake-up calls in your teens, 20s, and 30s, like PMS, can help prepare you for what is to come in the decades to follow.

However, if you have just barreled through discomfort – pain-

ful, heavy periods, for example - maybe taking painkillers

or the Pill to externally regulate your cycle, perimenopause

might seem like “PMS times 10”.

Belinda Rennie

WIn the later stages of menopause, estrogen as well as pro-

gesterone levels also decline, leading to symptoms such as

hot flushes, memory and mood problems, heart palpitations,

migraine headaches, and vaginal dryness. You might have

insomnia and feel like your memory has vanished.

Interestingly, these symptoms are a Western phenomenon.

They are virtually unheard of in traditional cultures where

menopause is seen as a transition into wise womanhood

and a time for quiet celebration. In this ebook I tap into the

wisdom of Eastern science of Ayurveda and Chinese medi-

cine with Western nutritional medicine to help you find your

natural balance. Using the three pillars - diet, lifestyle, and

stress management - to support your hormones, health, and

happiness, you can find menopause an extraordinary time of

self-discovery and spiritual awareness.

Having worked with hundreds of women with hormone

imbalance, I know three things to lighten your load on the

tightrope of daily living:

Every woman’s experience of menopause is individual and unique.

You are not your mother’s menopause.

If so far you have had an easy passage from the start of your monthly cycles to now, you are less likely to become a horror menopause story.

So let’s get started!


ood is one of the most basic ways we can nourish ourselves at least three times a day. Fresh, unprocessed whole

food, preferably organically grown, contains the building blocks of healthy hormones. When you commit to buying

and eating unprocessed, “clean” foods that have not been sprayed, chemically altered, injected or fed hormones and

antibiotics - as close to their natural state as possible - you are able to reduce your body burden of chemicals.

“When diet is correct, medicine is of no

need. When diet is wrong, medicine is of no

use.” Ayurvedic proverbWNOURISH

CLOSE TO NATURE

F

lean food is the new buzz-

word, but it is really how

food used to be in the days of

our grandmothers and how

it ought to taste. The first step towards

eating clean is to accept that convention-

ally grown and processed foods can con-

tain hazardous chemicals like pesticides

and growth hormones that can interfere

with our own hormone production. These

chemicals act like hormone mimics, latch-

ing onto our cells and pretending to be

estrogen. Hence why these chemicals are

called xenoestrogens.

If you are a meat and dairy eater and

eating more foods at the top of the food

chain, it is vitally important that you don’t

ingest another animal’s hormones if yours

are out of balance. Choose grass-fed and

free range as much as your budget will

allow over conventionally grain-fed. You

will see later that the fats in these foods

are naturally healthier too.

The liver is the most important organ for

detoxing these environmental chemicals

and therefore balancing hormones and

your weight. Simply put, it can’t do its

job of synthesizing and metabolizing the

sex hormones estrogen and progesterone

when it’s trying to break down the chemi-

cals in alcohol, coffee, sugar, artificial

CCLEAN FOOD

sweeteners, and the myriad others in

food, air, and water.

Check in with your relationship with

caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and fast food...

maybe not your BFF when it comes to

happy hormones. Have you noticed they

can cause anxiety, sugar highs and lows

and mess with your sleep? Can you do

without them for a day, a week, a month?

Be honest with yourself about how much

sugar you eat, even if from a natural

source like fruit, dried fruit, juices, honey,

dark chocolate, and sweetened drinks. It’s

the starting point of change.

As well as supporting the liver to detox-ify, organic whole food contains more nutrients per kilo of food than con-ventional food and helps your easier transition through menopause. A high vegetable and plant-based diet contains healthy fats to give your liver and all cells in your body a good oil change, fibre to cleanse the digestive system, and minerals to drive all your hormonal reactions.

Fats, specifically cholesterol, are the

building blocks of steroid hormones that

make both the sex hormones estrogen

and progesterone and stress hormones

cortisol. Not only are they good for you,

they are essential. The good fats found

in grass-fed meat and their milk and

butter, organic eggs, along with coconut

HEALTHY FATS

oil, avocado, raw nuts and seeds are the main

ingredients for healthy hormones as well as

gorgeous skin, hair, and nails.

These fats are incorporated into the cell

walls of all your body cells and improves

the movement of nutrients into the cell and

waste products out.

Your cells become vital, resonating and

responsive to messages from hormones,

making you feel less fatigued. Healthy fats

also reduce inflammation, pain, and improve

immunity.

But damaged fats found in heated vegetable

oils like sunflower oil, canola oil, and marga-

rine create free radicals, unstable molecules

that damage cells, using up the body’s pre-

cious supply of antioxidants and interfering

with progesterone synthesis. Fat, both circu-

lating blood fat and body fat stores, increase

estrogen, leading to estrogen dominance.

“Your cells become

vital, resonating

and responsive

to messages from

hormones”

FIBRE AND CARBOHYDRATES

Fresh whole vegetables, fruits, grains,

nuts, seeds, and pulses that contain fibre

play a vital role in your hormone bal-

ance. The fibre in these foods binds up

excess estrogen as well as other toxins

and excess cholesterol from the diges-

tive system and prevents them from

being reabsorbed back into the blood-

stream as “endotoxins”. Naturally fibre

improves your balance of bowel bacteria

and reduces constipation. As the liver

filters the blood, it is happier not to have

to deal with the extra toxic burden with

the result that progesterone levels rise.

These complex carbs also keep you feel-

ing full for longer and help to reduce

your sugar cravings by providing a slow

release of sugar to the brain and other

organs. Choosing the right sort of carbo-

hydrates for your body type keeps your

blood sugar and insulin levels stable and

is one of the keys to managing meno-

pausal symptoms and achieving a healthier

weight. Many women give up all carbs in a

desperate attempt to drop kilos but can just

end up feeling moodier, sleeping poorly, and

feeling deprived. Or conversely, you might

eat too many carbs and not enough protein

in a meal, leaving you looking around for your

next sugar hit.

Check in with your body one to three hours

after eating for these signals of satisfaction.

ou are unique in how you

digest and metabolise food,

and you might already know

that your body works better

with a plate of predominantly proteins

(meat, chicken, fish, dairy, eggs, and veg-

etarian sources) with low-starch carbs (all

vegetables except root vegetables), and

very little grains. You are a protein type.

Or maybe you thrive on a higher complex

carb diet with low-fat protein options

(carb type) or an equal balance on your

plate of carbs and protein (mixed type).

Discovering your mind/body type makes

choosing what to eat far less complicated

in a world where dieting, deprivation, and

fads rule food choices.

I use the wisdom of Ayurveda, a traditional

Indian system of health along with the

science of nutrition to figure out what,

when, and how much food you could be

eating to support your body type and bal-

ance your hormones. The three mind/body

types – Vata, Pitta, and Kapha – dictate

whether our bodies prefer more raw or

cooked food, how much hot and spicy food

you can tolerate, how much and what type

of fat and sugar suits you, and the balance

of protein and carbohydrate on your plate.

Like Ayurveda, Chinese medicine classi-fies food into tastes or flavours: sweet,

YBODY TYPE, AYURVEDA AND CHINESE MEDICINE

sour, salty, bitter, astringent, and pungent (spicy). Having a mixture of tastes in one meal is the key to satisfaction.

In the East, food is also seen to have warming or cooling qualities, and these qualities are influenced by the cooking or preparation method.

It follows that if you are suffering from a lot of heat symptoms such as skin break-outs or rashes, hot flushes, headaches, irritability and anger, avoid energetically heating or Yang foods such as alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, red meat, and chemical additives.

Eating more energetically cooling foods can reduce the Yang or heating element of your constitution.

Chinese medicine and the beautiful

simplicity of Yin and Yang can explain

many menopausal symptoms. According

to Chinese medicine, we are born with

a certain amount of Yin or vital fluids.

Depending on our lifestyle, diet, genetics,

and most importantly our stress levels,

Yin can be easily depleted, drying out

skin, eyes, and vagina, and leading to an

excess of Yang.

Yang is masculine, driving, striving, hot,

dry, moving, active, aggressive, uses up

energy, and is the quality that can heat,

dry, and exhaust your body in meno-

pause. Yin is considered feminine, cooling,

moistening, nourishing, stable, calming, pro-

motes restful sleep, and builds energy. Just

what you want during menopause. Eating

foods that build Yin, such as apple, avocado,

banana, dairy products, egg, flaxseeds, honey,

kidney beans, plum, pomegranate, seaweed,

sesame, sprouts, sweet potato, tahini, tofu,

watermelon, according to your constitution

can restore you to your core and soothes an

overworked and overheated body.

“Chinese medicine

and the beautiful

simplicity of Yin and

Yang can explain

many menopausal

symptoms”

FIBRE AND CARBOHYDRATES

How did you score? If you regularly experi-

ence these five cues to satisfaction, con-

gratulations!... You are including the right

balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates on

your plate. If not, time to reassess the bal-

ance of these on our plate.

Feel full and satisfied with no

desire for more food soon after

eating.1

No sweet cravings after meals.2Increased energy and a sense of

feeling refueled and restored, not

sleepy.3

Improved clarity, concentration,

and thought processes.4

Uplift in emotions, happier and

calmer.5


After whole foods, minerals are the mainstay of my work. Minerals support your bones, nervous and digestive systems in fact, all your

body processes. They are the spark that drives chemical reactions in the body from metabolism to detoxification.

A MINERAL DEFICIENT WORLD

any whole foods already

contain natural packages

of life-enhancing fats,

vitamins, and minerals,

and are considered menopausal-healing

foods. Phytoestrogen contains naturally

occurring plant compounds that have a

weak estrogenic effect. These clever foods

can either reduce excess estrogens, or they

can boost your flagging hormones like a

key fitting into a lock on the surface of

your cells.

There are more than 300 plant foods that

contain small amounts of phytoestrogens,

with soya and linseed or flaxseed along

with lentils, beans and their sprouted

forms having the highest amounts. Soya

comes in many forms, but the most potent

and healthful forms for menopausal

women are fermented miso and tempeh

M

PHYTOESTROGENS, VITAMINS, MINERALS, AND HERBS

as well as small amounts of tofu. When

these foods are incorporated into your

diet according to your constitution, many

women find they reduce symptoms like

hot flushes. Women who have signs

of estrogen dominance like fibrocystic

breasts or uterine fibroids should avoid

phystoestrogens.

When it comes to supplements, my phi-losophy is to start with an individualized approach to selecting whole foods suit-able to your body type, then add green foods like wheat or barley grass and the micro algae spirulina and chlorella. These are rich in chlorophyll and have a cooling and cleansing effect, reduc-ing inflammation, building blood, and improving liver health.

Other supplements have a place in

addressing nutritional deficiencies if you

are experiencing signs and symptoms of

imbalance. Antioxidant vitamins A, C, and

particularly E for hot flushes along with

B group vitamins have been shown to be

effective for stress, mood, energy levels, and

immunity in menopause. Herbs such as dong

quai, chaste berry, black cohosh, licorice, and

the Ayurvedic herb ashwagandha can all be

helpful supports to diet and lifestyle chang-

es prescribed by a professional herbalist.

adly, we live in a mineral-defi-

cient world. Processed foods

grown in deficient soils are

depleted of minerals, so unless

you are eating mostly plants

grown in healthy, organically composted

soils you need to replace the seven grams

of minerals lost every day some other way.

Acidic drinks like cola and alcohol, toxic

chemicals in food and water, and medi-

cations reduce your mineral supplies as

the body tries to move to a more alkaline

state. Aging and gut problems reduce

the body’s capacity to absorb minerals

from food. But, the biggest depletion of

minerals comes from stress: tension in

muscles produces excess lactic acid, in

the digestion extra stomach acid, and

shallow breathing, carbon dioxide that

needs to be removed.

Calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and iron are the major minerals that are used to buffer the blood from excess acidity. Minerals are taken from nerve and muscle cells first and the organ most affected is, yep, the brain. No wonder you feel cranky, irritable, and tense. Next the muscles are affected with stiffness, fatigue, weakness, and lower back pain. Or you might feel your joints becoming

stiff and sore.

After diet, I have found Schuessler cell salts

to be the most effective way of managing

excess acidity in the body and balancing

hormones. This 150-year-old therapy con-

sists of homeopathically prepared micro-

dose minerals that are dissolved in the

mouth and enter cells within 2 seconds,

bypassing the digestive system. Cell salts

increase the absorption of minerals from

food and can be taken safely in conjunction

with medication.

S


discussion about food

wouldn’t be complete

unless I mentioned water,

the delivery mechanism.

Drink plenty of filtered water to help your

body hydrate and move good things into

cells and clear out the waste products.

Even mild dehydration confuses your hun-

ger signals and can release stress hor-

mones. Have a large glass of water before

bed, on rising, and drink at least 2 litres of

filtered water every day.

Soon you can discover you can eat exactly

what your body needs and attain the

weight you want into and well beyond the

menopause.

AWATER THREE KEYS TO BECOME A LIGHTER TIGHTROPE

WALKER…

What suits your body to eat now may be different from last month, last year, or from your friend, partner, or colleague.

Too much of a good thing – whether coconut oil, organic chocolate, raw food – can make you sick.

Constant deprivation can kill you…it kills your love and pleasure of food. It unbalances your natural desire to eat food right for your body type and produces constant cravings. Make your motto guilt-free eating.


etting up and moving is becoming one of the biggest challenges we face as a species. Moving at the most basic

level helps to circulate blood and other fluids carrying nutrients and hormones into our cells and transporting

wastes out. For women in particular, it stimulates circulation of lymph in armpits and breasts, groin, and legs to

move fats and immune factors around the body. Moving also stimulates the digestive system via the wave-like

motions of the gut, preventing constipation.

“See moving as an opportunity, not an in-

convenience.” Dr Ross SparkSMOVE

A CHALLENGE

G

hen you move, you burn

calories and start to alter

your body composition.

Doing the right sort of

movement for your body type supports an

increase in muscle tissue, bone strength,

and joint flexibility essential for healthy

aging. With exercise, the percentage of

body fat deceases as well as circulat-

ing fats in the bloodstream supporting

healthy estrogen levels.

Think of the word “e-motion”. Emotions are

energy in motion. Exercise and breathing

moves energy or chi around the body and

helps you to process your emotions and

prevents emotions from getting stuck and

stagnant in parts of your body, the real

basis of dis-ease. Moving makes you happy

via the release of endorphins that tell you

how good it is to be alive - it is the key

to hormone balance, healthy moods, and

preventing anxiety and depression into

and beyond the menopause.

Exercise has to be fun, right? So if you are experiencing hormonal symptoms, jug-gling a lot of balls in your daily life, feeling rundown and stressed, the best type of exercise is one that you enjoy AND sup-ports your Yin or vital fluids that nourish your hormones. My experience is that the multitasking, over-achieving, driven, com-petitive woman is most likely drawn to the opposite: running or hot yoga, intense

WE-MOTION

workouts, boxercise, or weight training.

This type of exercise can trigger the

“fight or flight” stress response that

raises cortisol and lowers progesterone.

Intense activity depletes Yin further and

makes hormone balance worse, increas-

ing Yang or heat symptoms. Gentler

forms of exercise that build Yin like

restorative yoga, tai chi, walking, hiking,

swimming, or biking might feel slow and

strange to start with but can be better

options to build and circulate chi or

energy, especially for Vata types and if

you are feeling depleted.

Other women find these gentle Yin

activities help balance their Yang, intense

exercise like running that they love and

don’t want to give up. Choosing the right

balance of exercise depends on your life-

style, stress levels, and body type.

As a competitive athlete up to my twen-

ties, my workouts have been based on

the theory that in order to build up the

body you must first break it down. I dis-

covered that pushing my body to exhaus-

tion might have been okay in my 20s or

30s, but maybe not appropriate in my

40s or 50s. Hanging up my running shoes

permanently in exchange for walking

and hiking, swimming, and restorative

yoga was a blow to my ego but a bless-

ing for my mind and body.

“Moving makes

you happy via

the release of

endorphins that tell

you how good it is

to be alive”

THREE KEYS TO EXCERCISE BALANCE ON THE TIGHTROPE...

Move in ways that support

your body type and your

hormones from day to day:

belly dance, walk, cross

train, swim, parkour, row,

yoga, cycle...

1Over-exercising damages

your hormones as much as

under- exercising.2Balance movement with

rest and recovery and be

kind to yourself.3


e can go without food for weeks, water for days, but a few minutes without breath and we are dead! So why

don’t we value our breath as the source of life and inspiration?

“Inspiration follows respiration.” Michelle

LevyIBREATHE

THE SOURCE OF LIFE AND INSPIRATION

W

hat happens when we get

stressed or anxious? Our

breathing becomes quick,

shallow, and irregular. Or

we hold our breath and then stop the flow

of energy through our heart-lung meridian

channel according to Chinese medicine.

Have you ever caught yourself exhaling

loudly after a scare whilst driving or a

heated argument with your partner? It’s

the body remembering to breathe again…

phew!

So instead of breathing 15 times per

minute which is the average rate for

most people, your breath can dramatically

speed up increasing heart rate and put-

ting more stress on your heart and lungs.

Rapid, shallow breathing changes the pH

balance of the blood, making it more

acidic as carbon dioxide is dissolved in the

bloodstream as carbonic acid. So it doesn’t

matter how much alkaline organic veggies

you are eating, it’s very hard to move the

blood in the direction of alkaline if you are

not aware of your breath.

Soft, slow belly or abdominal breath-ing through your nose signals the para-sympathetic nervous system to take over from the “fight and flight“ sympathetic stress response of quick, shallow breath-ing. When you slow down and breathe consciously, you calm the mind and cool

BREATHINGTECHNIQUES

W

down your emotional energy.

It’s not surprising that breathing tech-

niques like alternate nostril breathing is

the most powerful quick way to reduce

hot flushes in menopause. The flow of

energy through alternate nostrils regu-

lates your body temperature like an

internal air conditioner. The left nos-

tril brings in the cooling, soothing Yin

energy and the right nostril gives out the

heating Yang energy. Straw breathing,

breathing in through your nose and out

through a straw is another very cooling

breathing technique during menopause.

Breathing in and out only through your

nose is an excellent way to increase your

performance in sport or exercise. Nasal

breathing increases your respiratory effi-

ciency whilst reducing your breathing

and heart rate and overall exertion.

Exercise using nasal breathing at any

level becomes not how much you can do

but how effortlessly you can do it.

Connecting with your breath when you

exercise brings you closer to a “flow

experience” where there is no pain, no

strain but just a sense of the body and

mind being completely connected. I have

felt it with the “runners high” and what

keeps drawing me back to the grace and

beauty of running. It doesn’t just have

to happen with exercise though; any

activity can produce a flow experience

whether you are painting, listening to

THREE KEYS FOR BREATHING MINDFULLY ON THE TIGHTROPE...

A slower rate of breathing

is gentle on the nervous

system, metabolism and

digestion, and ultimately

your hormones for a longer,

healthier life.

1The slower your rate of

breathing, the more con-

trol you have over your

mind.2As the mind follows the

breath, the body follows

the mind, and stress and

tension ebb away.3

music, or working on a project, and it all starts

with the breathing for my mind and body.

Laughter and singing are simple, intuitive ways to breathe deeply again. Studies show laughter reduces cortisol levels and supports the immune system and along with singing is a great anti-dote to stress. We all need a good belly laugh, but particularly Ayurvedic Pitta types benefit from watching funny movies and having a lot of laughter, lightness, and comedy in their lives to counteract their intense, “hot-headed” nature.

Whenever you are feeling particularly frazzled

or scattered, simply return to the awareness of

your breath, the rising and falling of your belly.

Even if your day has been like a cyclone of con-

stant activity, there are still points of stillness

like the eye of any storm. You can find these in

the space between inhaling or exhaling or after

each breath. Pausing after you finish one activity

before you start the next and slowing down to

breathe is a great way to align your mind, body,

and spirit, creating more focus and balance in

your daily life.


or many women this is the biggest challenge….resting and relaxing preferably with feet up or horizontal is not seen

as socially acceptable behavior. We are constantly busy and “doing”; frighteningly this is seen as a good thing. Dr.

Claudia Welch, in her book Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life, calls this the “cult of busyness”.

“Most of the things we need to be most fully

alive never come in busyness. They grow in

rest.” Mark BuchananMREST

RE-STORE

F

come from a generation of over-

striving, over-driving, and over-

achieving women, and my beau-

tiful mother was one of those

women. So I grew up with the idea that

if I was not productive or on task most of

the time, something was wrong with me.

To be constantly in motion, stillness was

scary. Can you relate to that?

Pushing yourself beyond your resources in

an attempt to have it all – high-powered

career, family, mother, wife, carer, daughter,

and socialite – can be a recipe for burnout.

Ask any woman, and those honest enough

to tell you have pressed the “reset” but-

ton on their busy life…or their body has

pressed it for them with thyroid, adrenal,

immune, joint, or other health issues, often

with an inflammatory, hormonal basis.

Excessively busy and stressed lifestyles drive up the Yang element in your life. The more you rush from one task to another, especially under a time deadline, the more you stimulate stress hormones, adrenaline, and cortisol which are very Yang in nature.

Cortisol is secreted by your adrenal glands

in times of stress, causing shallow breath-

ing, digestive disturbance, unstable blood

sugar, and blood fats. Calcium is shunted

from bones into the bloodstream, and

kidneys work overtime retaining sodium

and excreting potassium leading to water

retention. Magnesium is used up as mus-

cles are held in tension, and consistent

deep sleep is harder to find when you are

tired but wired.

This is the classic stress response neces-

sary for our survival. Cortisol changes your

IREST AND BALANCE

mood and gives you mental clarity and

focus to make quick decisions for fight

or flight, but what happens if neither of

those occurs? You are left with hormones

raging through your body, often with no

need to fight for your survival or run.

Over time cortisol levels can rise to

unnaturally high levels in response to

ongoing stress and then drop to very

low levels as the adrenal glands become

exhausted. Then it’s harder to get out of

bed in the morning. You might get sick

more often and take longer to recover.

Memory and concentration drops and

you feel tired all the time. You might

have salt, sugar, and carb cravings and

gain weight around your waist. You find

digesting some foods more difficult than

before with a flare-up of allergies and

more inflammation and redness whether

in joints or skin.

In Eastern medicine, the stress hormones

cortisol and adrenaline are considered

Yang and necessary for feeling focused,

engaged, and ready for action. Stress

hormones are heating and drying and

work in opposition to your sex hormones

estrogen and progesterone which are

Yin, cooling, softening, and nourishing.

Naturally they balance each other out,

but the problem lies in our modern

lifestyles that stimulate excess stress

hormones.

Your Yin sex hormones act as a buffer to

dampen down the excess Yang or stress

hormones. One big sacrifice is about

to take place. The body’s intelligence

puts the needs of survival over the

need to have balanced menstrual cycles,

soft skin, and a healthy sex drive in

menopause. Sex hormones are sacrificed

for the production of stress hormones.

“Pushing yourself

beyond your

resources in an

attempt to have it all

can be a recipe for

burnout.”

DE-STRESS

Progesterone is used to make cortisol but not

the other way around so your sex hormones

become the sponsor of your stressful lifestyle.

This can work in the short term, but if stress

becomes a way of life as it is for many women,

things start to go pear shaped around meno-

pause. Adrenal glands and ovaries, both directly

or indirectly, produce both sex and stress hor-

mones, and when these become exhausted they

can affect the rest of the endocrine organs like

the thyroid and pancreas, setting the stage for

ill health.

To start addressing stress in your life,

begin with awareness. Take a moment

to ask yourself where is your fuel tank

located in your body? Is it your heart,

your chest, your abdomen? Then ask

yourself, “How full is it?” Is it cracked and

leaking out vital energy? If your fuel tank is

less than three-quarters full, then it’s time for

some self-care strategies. Don’t wait until it is

half-empty.

leeping problems, tiredness,

and fatigue around meno-

pause are often a result of

unprocessed and unresolved

emotions like grief, sadness, anger, worry,

and anxiety. Clearing these out of your

body/mind before you sleep allows

brain waves to completely slow down.

Meditation helps you to dream and access

a deeper source of inspiration and insights

that can guide your life.

SMEDITATION Meditation in the evening before sleep,

on waking in the morning, or at any time of the day for a few minutes helps to empty and still your mind. It is simple, does not require any equipment, and can be done anywhere. But here is the catch. It takes a deep desire to want peace and a commitment to the short time in your day where you just be. It is the ultimate gift of self-care.

Maybe the mind chatter has already

begun…”I am not the kind of person to

sit still for long stretches.” The mind will

always want to run an endless stream

of conversation, judgment, or story – that’s

what the mind is programmed to do. But

when you detach yourself from the stream

of thoughts and let them rise and fall,

observing them like waves on the ocean

and clouds across the sky, they become just

thoughts. Nothing more and nothing less.

They only have power when you allow them

to have power.

SLEEP “Our truest life is

when we are in our

dreams awake.”

- Henry David

Thoreau

leep is one of the best ways to

fill your fuel tank. It is biologi-

cally necessary for you to need

more sleep heading into the

menopause – as in adolescence - any-

where from 8 to 10 hours a night, and not

feel guilty about it.

Going to be early, taking afternoon naps,

and sleeping in on wet weekends can

give you a delicious feeling of breaking

the “rules” as it is regarded with disdain

in our culture. Our culture idolizes the

woman who works a 16-hour day, stays

up to midnight, and survives on minimum

sleep whilst juggling a family and social

life. How do they do it? For many women

it is at great cost to their hormonal health.

When you run low on sleep the whole del-icate balance of hormones is thrown out. The hormone ghrelin which triggers your appetite goes up, and at the same time your level of leptin, which puts the brakes on your appetite, goes down. Simply put, less sleep equals less leptin hormone. This equals more hunger and craving for carbohydrates, more nighttime eating, and increased body fat and weight gain, espe-cially around your waist.

Sleep deprivation makes you feel sluggish, lethargic, and fatigued during the day. It is a vicious cycle as you are more likely to choose sweet foods, carbs, and coffee to keep you awake, leading to unstable

insulin levels. Too little sleep creates a relative excess of Yang and an increase in cortisol which disrupts sleep, leads to insomnia, and accelerates aging. Waking up at 3-4 a.m. with mind chatter disrupts the deepest and quietest restorative time of day, the hour or two before dawn.

Exposure to light from the glow of elec-

tronic gadgets in the bedroom - iPad,

phones, TV- when your body clock is

telling you to sleep suppresses mela-

tonin. This is a hormone that is made

during darkness in the pineal gland and

normally peaks at night. Melatonin pro-

tects cells from mutation by preventing

cells from dividing and helping abnor-

mal cells to self-destruct, keeping our

genetic material in good shape. This is

why the best remedy to stay awake after

a long flight is spend time in bright light,

preferably daylight.

Sleep is one of the simplest ways to

build Yin. It is the most nourishing and

restorative things you can do yourself,

yet it is given very little air time consid-

ering that hot flushes and night sweats

are by far the most common reasons for

sleep deprivation during menopause.

Following “sleep hygiene rules” is a great

way to take sleeping seriously. Cutting

alcohol, caffeine, and sugar – and if the

thought of giving up any of these sends

you into a panic – it’s good place to

start! Small meals in the evening with

a little carbohydrate like brown rice or

sweet potato, increases serotonin and promotes

relaxation. Create a dark, cold bedroom that is a

tranquil, beautiful sanctuary free of electronics.

Establish a pre-sleep routine like drinking herbal

teas – valerian, kava kava, lemon balm, chamo-

mile, and passion flower – or having baths with

essential oils. Anything that settles your mind that

works for you.

Sleep is a time when your body does most of

its repair and restoration. New cells are being

produced and old ones destroyed. In traditional

Chinese medicine the liver is most active between

11 p.m. and 3 a.m., helping your body to detoxify

from harmful chemicals, balancing hormone lev-

els, regulating cholesterol, and topping up stores

of many essential vitamins and minerals.

Insomnia, tiredness, and fatigue are not signs of

weakness. They are signs that your body needs to

rest and recalibrate. Just like eating and drinking

when you are hungry or thirsty, it’s important to

listen to and act on your body’s signals. Go on

put your feet up, have an early night, and sleep in

when you need to.

S


editation can take dif-

ferent forms for differ-

ent people. For some, it

could be watching a can-

dle burning, contemplating inspirational

words, practicing a breathing technique,

or visualizing a beautiful place in a guided

meditation. The aim of all these ways is to

detach from thoughts. Just for a moment

“be” a human “being” and not a human

“doing”.

Practicing a daily ritual of meditation,

whatever it is for you, almost always leads

to less stress in your life, so that you are

better able to manage whatever is thrown

to you. It will never be more than you can

handle, by the way. You are more ground-

ed, balanced, and present in your life.

Studies show your blood pressure, heart

rate, and breathing decreases, and you can

clear the by-products of stress from your

day, balancing all your hormones naturally.

MTHREE KEYS TO WALKING THE TIGHTROPE WITH GRACE AND EASE...

Stress is the single biggest destroyer of hormone balance.

Sleep is the biggest recharger of your fuel tank.

Create space and time to meditate and see what unfolds.


hatever your views are on evolution, religion, or spirituality, the one common thread is that we are all connected.

Astronauts report seeing their city, country, planet, and galaxy become smaller and smaller specks in the uni-

verse, and this is the message. We are all one - made of the same stuff - and experience similar emotions - love,

fear, hate, guilt, sadness, and joy. When we are able to deeply share these emotions with others, we are able to

connect on a human level. Connection gives purpose and meaning to our lives – it’s why we are here.

“We began as mineral, we emerged into

plant life and into the animal state and then

into being human…” RumiWCONNECT

THE COMMON THREAD

W

ur cells are programmed to

connect. At the most basic

level, cells are connected

by the surrounding fluid

and the blood that delivers nutrients

and removes waste products. Cells work

together to function as organs, systems,

and the entire organism strives to work

as one connected whole. This is called

homeostasis. Hormones via the nervous

system are the messengers in the body so

when your hormones are balanced YOU

feel more connected. When hormones

aren’t reaching their target organs or the

organs, are getting too much or too little

of a particular hormone, then you become

disconnected. Disconnection is the begin-

ning of disease.

The language of hormones is emotion.

What you feel at every second of the day

is translated by the nervous system to

produce a particular hormonal response.

When you are feeling happy your body

has surges of endorphins, hormone-like

substances that give you a natural high. It

could be a hug, a great conversation over

lunch, or watching an amazing sunset.

When you are feeling angry, cranky, or

stressed a lot of the time, your body releas-

es hormones that can increase inflamma-

tion and break down your immune system.

Emotions can become toxic if they are left

to fester unresolved rather than being

OMADE TO CONNECT

fully felt, expressed, and released.

Humans are wired for connection, and we are all at one level seeking love and belonging. But what blocks us want-ing to feel these emotions? Author and researcher Brene Brown talks about the power of vulnerability. In her inspira-tional talks, books, and website she says that in order for connection to happen you have to be vulnerable and let your-self be seen for who you really are.

That’s a scary thought for most people as

the train of thought goes, “Maybe I’m not

worthy of love and belonging”, “maybe

I’m not good enough, smart enough, thin

enough…”. She suggests that If you numb

vulnerability by pretending to be perfect

and in control all the time, you also

numb joy, love, and creativity.

“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”- Brene Brown


f your goal is to balance your hormones and balance

your life, take some time to think about which of the

five steps you have just read that your body is most

leaning into right now. Do you need more support

with your diet? What about getting moving again or making

space and time in your life to to learn a breathing, meditation,

or stress management technique. Or do you just need to take

more time out to rest and reconnect with yourself?

Rest assured that you will learn more about how to live in

balance when you are out of balance and feel yourself falling

off that tightrope. But the good news is that small changes to

how you nourish, move, breathe, relax, and connect all add up

to big changes in how you feel and experience life. Placing the

seed of intention creates a movement towards better health.

These small changes can add up to a quantum leap into amaz-

ing, vibrant health. All it takes is a single seed, and by reading

this ebook you have already planted it.

I“When you do the things that you can

do, you will find the Way and the Way will

follow you.” Winnie the Pooh

conclusion

Thank you. Belinda Rennie

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Belinda Rennie is an accredited Nutritionist, Cell Salt

Practitioner, and Biofeedback Specialist. She runs her business,

Natural Menopause Help in Robina on the Gold Coast. Belinda

graduated from Melbourne with a Post Graduate Diploma in

Nutritional and Environmental Medicine and a Bachelor of

Applied Science.

Belinda has worked for 20 years in medical clinics in Dubai

with the last 5 years specializing in women’s health. She uses

a variety of modalities to support women at any age and stage

to find balance in their lives using principles of whole food

nutrition, micro-dose minerals, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine,

and biofeedback.

Belinda started her career in health promotion in Australia

and then decided to move from population health to becom-

ing a natural health care practitioner to empower individuals

with new insights and skills to achieve their health goals.

She relocated back to Australia in 2011 with her husband

and two teenage daughters. In the process she has discovered

that the region is a wellspring of natural beauty to pursue

her interest in the outdoors, hiking, swimming, and yoga. She

enjoys sourcing fresh local produce from markets and attending

regional cultural festivals.

For more information on Belinda Rennie please visit her website

at:

WWW.NATURALMENOPAUSEHELP.COM

http://naturalmenopausehelp.com

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