Tag Archive for Menopause

Estrogen, Cortisol, and Thyroid; GIRLS SCOUT COOKIES, Recipes

blood spotOkay, Full Disclosure:  I’m Going Through Menopause. Ugh. This picture to the left?  That’s a “Blood Spot” test I did this morning. More on that in another post, I promise.  I’m actually just letting you know because today I’m tying Hormones to Health, Mood, and Food. What We Eat Affects Our Body and Mind.  I’m doing this after being inspired by a client email last night, asking if eating a few Girl Scout cookies would undue a “good” day. Let me tie my menopause, YOUR body, and her girl scout cookies together, because they are.  Our body, our energy, our emotions, our health,.. they’re one big connection.

Here’s some interesting facts:

*The Ingredient list for Samoas:(Don’t be hatin on the Messenger!)

Sugar, vegetable oil (soybean and palm oil, partially hydrogenated palm kernel and/or cottonseed oil), enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin,reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [vitamin B1],riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid), corn syrup, coconut,sweetened condensed milk (condensed milk, sugar),contains two percent or less of sorbitol, glycerin, cocoa,invert sugar, cocoa processed with alkali, cornstarch,salt, caramelized sugar, soy lecithin, dextrose, natural and artificial flavor, carrageenan, leavening (baking soda, monocalcium phosphate).

Pure Poison.

* Since our body could CARE A LESS about calories, and is DOMINATED by the hormones Insulin and Cortisol, does “food” like this undo a good day?  YES!,  “food” like this is ALWAYS harmful for your body. Always.  After eating this, your blood sugar and insulin spike, your Immune System is suppressed for 24 hours, you’ve allowed in Cancer Causing Sugar and Flour (glucose – cancer’s favorite food), Chemicals (artificial colors, flavors), soy, hydrogenated oils and Omega 6/Inflammatory vegetable oils. If ONLY the worst side effect was a little weight gain.

* What if you’re in the Majority of Women, and struggle with Bloat and Headaches; bile beanswhat affect will this “food” have on those issues?  Bloat, which happens in the Small Intestines, is from Bacteria or Yeast that DOESN’T BELONG THERE.  BLOAT IS NOT NORMAL. EVER.  Eat “food” like these Girl Scout Cookies, and you’ve just fed that bacteria and yeast it’s most favorite, fortifying meal.  It’s like when Popeye eats the can of spinach and then he can beat up Bruno.  That’s what’s going on in your “dysbiotic gut” (overgrowth of the bad stuff, not enough good):  you’ve just empowered it and prolonged your condition.

* Headaches are highly linked to Sugar/Flour/Insulin/Cortisol/Thyroid/Estrogen.  There’s a cascade effect going on that’s too long to write about, but eat this “food”, and if you’re prone to headaches, you’ll get one.

* Eating “food” like this suppresses/destroys our beneficial gut bacteria.  Here’s one surprising side effect from that: after our body produces estrogen,(this is for MEN and WOMEN) and uses it, it’s sent back to the liver to be broken down.  After leaving the liver, the “conjugated” estrogen is sent to the small intestine to be further broken down, or actually consumed by, the bacteria “lactobacillus acidophilis”.  If you’ve destroyed your gut bacteria with: SUGAR (the kind in Girl Scout Cookies), Processed Refined Foods (like a Girl Scout Cookie), Antibiotics, Cortisol/Stress, chemicals in water (fluoride, chlorine, etc), birth control pills, anti-inflammatories, acid suppressors, or Splenda,  you’ve likely impaired your bodies ability to break down and get rid of “old estrogen”;  back into the system the estrogen goes instead of being pooped or peed out of you.  Not Good.  (Bryan – there’s your favorite word again)

*The Sugar, Flour, and Chemicals in this product will ABSOLUTELY STIMULATE AND NURTURE the Addiction Centers in your brain.  And your child’s brain.

*Eat enough of these to raise your blood sugar way above normal, and your pancreas will respond with a big dose of Insulin to push it back down.  Unfortunately though, when blood sugar crashes, Cortisol is called in to correct it. Boom!  Stress.   Like I said above, Cortisol and Insulin are our 2 Dominant hormones, whether we’re male or female.  Too much Cortisol and too much Insulin mean that Sex Hormones and Thyroid Hormones will have to take a back seat.  Reproduction and Metabolism are not priorities.  Balancing blood sugar ( because SUGAR IS TOXIC), and Fight/Flight (staying alive) are priorities.

What’s all this have to do with my peri-menopause?  So far, my only symptom has been losing my period.  I’m sleeping well, no hot flashes, no up and down moods.  If pretend foods like Girl Scout Cookies were a normal part of my diet, I’d be a nut case.  ( to my husband and children, ……..)  Being a hormonal nut case IS NOT NORMAL.  It’s the food, it’s the food, it’s the food.  It ALWAYS matters, always.

When you look at that cookie or cake or chip or whatever it is that’s calling you, STOP.  Ask yourself, “how will I feel about this in an hour”;  practice thinking about the long term consequences from our actions.  Isn’t that what we tell our kids?  It’s great advice for us too!

Parchment-SalmonHere’s a recipe we made last night, oh my gosh it was delicious! Samoras-2-0051 I used cod instead of salmon because it’s cheaper and I can always find wild caught.  The parsley and lemon together were so good!  Did you know that parsley helps the body detox heavy metals, and that’s it’s LOADED with Vitamin’s K, C, A, and Bs, and a whole bunch of minerals.  And here’s a Paleo Samoa cookie Meg made – it was excellent!  You can have a dessert that doesn’t shoot up your blood sugar and instigate destruction of your brain and body, or your kids brain and body.  Real Whole Food is the answer.

PMS, Bone Health, Women’s Issues?

debbie (43)Went to a Woman’s Health Seminar yesterday and it was excellent:)    We heard about PMS, Menopause, Weight Gain, Bone Health, and the (lack) of sexual desire so many women feel  that it’s the subject of a zillion jokes and pretty much accepted as “normal”.

Here’s the facts though:  PMS, bad Menopause symptoms, Weight Gain, Bone deterioration, and lack of sexual desire isn’t normal and you don’t need Magical Pills to help you get past it.

Once again, it’s ALL ABOUT DIET AND LIFESTYLE.  Your health, your mood, YOUR HORMONES, they’re the result of the Food You Eat, How You Manage Your Stress, Sleep, and Exercise.  There were no Big Reveals, Special Programs, or, like I said above, Magic Pills.   That’s okay though, because Your Health Is In Your Hands:  you have power and control over your physical and mental health, you just need to start exerting it!

PMS:  Low B vitamins and low magnesium stores will cause cramps and moodiness.  If you eat tons of carbs, you’ll burn through your B’s and Mag stores just processing/metabolizing the flours and the sugars.  You can supplement, but if your diet is Oatmeal/cereal/bagel forPMS breakfast, Starbucks midmorning, bagel/sandwich/pasta for lunch,  carby snack mid-afternoon, and then pasta/bread for dinner, then WINE,   there’s NO CORRECTING for that level of refined, processed carbohydrate ( whole wheat, whole grain, whatever, they’re reduced to Glucose/Sugar in your stomach.)

Menopause?   Some other countries don’t even have a word for that.  We’re special because we have some of the worst Peri – Menopause Symptoms In The World.  If you’ve spent your whole life eating  processed carbs, trans fats, and chemicals; drinking wine several nights a week, snacking enough that Insulin is never turned off; not managing your stress so that Cortisol is made Constantly – which means Raw Ingredients for other hormones go to Cortisol – then there is no supplement/pharmaceutical protocol that’s going to fix you.  Changing your diet will though.  So will adding exercise, going to bed hours before midnight, and managing stress.  Seriously.

Bone Health?  American’s eat more calcium, take more Vitamin D, more Bone Building Supplements, than ANY OTHER COUNTRY.  We have MORE osteoporotic fractures than ANY OTHER COUNTRY.  You can’t supplement your way out of a Carby Diet, Unmanaged Stress, Wine Every Night, Little Sleep, and No Exercise.   Just like Weight is ALL ABOUT THE HORMONES, so is your mood, your health, and your BONES.  If you have Glucose in the blood stream  ALL THE TIME ( see diet described above), bone health will be greatly affected.

Sexual Desire?  Doesn’t happen when you’re exhausted, adrenally depleted, have a slow thyroid, a liver that’s clogged, an unhappy attitude about your body, and loads of cortisol.  Again, there’s no Pill or Magic Formula to fix this.   But Lifestyle Works Every Time – honest.

We’ve got ESPN on this morning ( If my husbands home, it’s on.  It seems to have a goodbone fracture with drugs calming effect on him as he doesn’t even sit and watch it, he just enjoys having it in the background.)  So far there’ve been commercials for Doritos ( super happy people), Beer (super happy people), Prilosec ( Happy guy in front of a PILE of food;  Warning stayed on the screen for the duration:  Do Not Take More Than 14 Days.  That’s because it RUINS DIGESTION, REDUCES STOMACH ACID, and INHIBITS NUTRIENT ABSORPTION – it says that on the package too.) and then Cialis (happy people).

If you live your life according to Media Advertising,  this morning’s message is this:  Junk food is wonderful and makes you happy,  Alcohol is wonderful and makes your life better, and Drugs will help you with all the problems you encounter from your Junk Food and Alcohol consumption.

But that’s not true, at all.  Not for men, not for women, and not for children.

Your lifestyle choices Every Single Day are what make or break your health,.. every single day.  Take control of your life:  eliminate the processed grains and sugars,  read your labels so that you can avoid trans fats and chemicals too.  Don’t assume ANY FOOD that comes in a box or bag is healthy, even if it’s in the Health Section.   Do you drink Wine or Beer several nights a week?  Think of alcohol as Liquid Doughnuts, quit fooling yourself that there’s some health benefits, because there’s not.  Treat alcohol as a VERY OCCASIONAL treat; did you know that a serving size of wine is FOUR OUNCES????   Alcohol ruins stomach mucas/gut function, destroys the liver (which compromises about 60% of our Total Daily Calorie Burn), influences the body to convert everything consumed with the alcohol to be converted to fat, induces insulin to be released, damages neurons in the brain and I could go on and on and on, but let’s leave it at this:  Alcohol’s not healthy.

Sleep is IMPORTANT, and lack of sleep does a number on your hormones that lead to all kinds of illness and disease.  Make getting to bed and falling asleep – way before midnight – a priority.   Exercise is IMPORTANT,  you don’t have to do Cross Fit, or Interval Training, but you should move EVERY DAY.  Yoga / dance classes /  walking / 10 minutes on a bike and 10 minutes of lifting / whatever… it’s all good and your mind and body NEED it.    Stress Management:  Practice this.  Read about it, learn about it, focus on it.  If you live a life where stress in unavoidable, you need to learn mental and physical tricks to keep your Cortisol from constantly flooding your blood stream.   Think that’s impossible because  your life is so stressful?  Other people manage it, you can too.  It takes forethought, practice, and effort, just like planning/shopping/cooking and eating well.  But it’s totally do-able.

Our health is in our hands, from PMS, to Osteoporosis, to GERD, to Heart Health, to Diabetes, Cancer, Auto-Immune and everything else.    Practice the habits and actions that lead to Good Health, Good Hormones, and a Good Immune System.  Eat healthy fats and proteins, tons of vegetables, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, some whole fat dairy( if your stomach agrees).  Exercise or move every day.  Go to bed at a decent time.  Practice stress management techniques.  Drink plenty of water.  Avoid foods and people that are toxic ( some people need to be “mentally” avoided if you can’t avoid them physically).  Take your power and use it.    You can do this!