Women, Hormones, & the Stages of Life

                                      Hello from RI during our last 12 days of summer!

This is my first post in 2013. My dad was ill and passed away soon after my last post in 2012; I was too uninspired and sad to write.This past July I did a talk on Hormones and the Stages of a Woman's Life. I thought I'd start blogging again with highlights from that talk.     Thanks for reading and for the questions that keep coming in...I will start posting answers again (and to those who have enjoyed the e-mails instead, they'll continue, as well). 

Hormones and the Stages of a Woman’s Life

Imbalances: Hormones help regulate everything from energy flow to inflammation to women’s monthly cycles. When hormones are out of balance the effects are felt differently by each woman--bio-individuality is the reason. 

Signs of the Times

·    Teens have begun cycles earlier (some at 8 or 9 yrs. old); pre-menstrual syndrome is common in today’s world.

Child-bearing years can include PMS, infertility, fibroids, endometriosis, headaches, depression,  & low libido.

Other signs of hormone imbalance are irritability for no reason, frequent water retention, spotting between cycles or absence of menstruation, and painful or difficult menses.

Major causes of imbalances are stress, adrenal exhaustion (produce most hormones), severe dieting or exercise, deficiencies in nutrients (especially protein, calcium, B-complex, EFAs: essential fatty acids), environmental pollutants and hormones, birth control, and HRT (hormone replacement therapy). 

      Fertility/Pregnancy:

·    Herbal support for normal, healthy child-bearing years: many varied fresh fruits and veggies in the diet, whole-food supplements (especially rich in folic acid and chlorophyll), and essential fatty acids (EFAs).

·    Massage therapy is essential in helping with infertility—stress management is important. Avoid caffeine.

Hot Flashes & Menopause:
Hot flashes are caused by the hypothalamus (regulates sleep cycles, appetite & body temp, and produces hormones in the pituitary gland) over-reacting & producing hormones, attempting to stimulate estrogen production.

Menopausal symptoms can be heavy bleeding (unlike/worse than normal periods), spotty bleeding, leg cramps, migraines, fibroids, low libido, hot flashes, mood swings, crying for no reason, vaginal dryness, hair loss or thinning, and night sweats.

*Hot flashes can last 2-4 years after menopause has ended.

·         

      Herbal Support:  Supplements are made for particular needs and will vary to include many of these herbs: Dong Quai, Black or Blue Cohosh, Licorice Root, Wild Yam, Chaste Tree/Vitex, and Ginseng

*Black Cohosh: research has shown 8 weeks later, estrogen levels are equal to Rx medications' results.

*Licorice Root: stimulates the adrenal system.

·    Vitamins/Minerals/EFAs: Supplements may contain any number of these beneficial components to aid your needs: Vitamin E, Omega 3 or mixed EFAs, folic acid/B-Complex, and Valerian Root/Kava Kava.

·    Foods: Super foods, such as those high in chlorophyll (wheat grass, barley grass, spirulina, etc.) are wonderful system-wide health builders that will increase stamina and have a long list of other benefits. 
      Add these foods to your diet (high protein & mineral content): Sea veggies (kelp, dulse, wakame, etc.), soy foods, papaya, seeds, nuts, miso, and green or white teas.

*Sea veggies help remove toxins from the body by binding to chemical wastes and then eliminating them through the proper channels.

*1 cup soy = 1 Premarin tablet

*To moderate bleeding: drinking red raspberry or green tea may help. Exercise is something that will either help you to lessen the bleeding or increase it—this is your bio-individuality…you have to try it first to find out.

NOTE: Many people have sought relief from every malady known to man through acupuncture and/or acupressure. Also, massage therapy (including foot, hand, and ear reflexology) has miracle-like results!

God provided every tree, grass, berry, nut, seed, flower, root, bark, stem, leaf, and fungus (did I miss any?) to help nourish and cure us of our ills whilst providing nutritive sustenance. He also gave us trigger points for effective body work—all to help us cope in this changing, beautiful, yet difficult world.

Q & A (Health -- Reducing Eggs in the Diet)

This week's question is from B. in RI...

BDunhamJ   July 20, 2012
How do I remove eggs from a diet so that I am eating as few of them as possible? Also, can you recommend a good tasting gluten free bread?

Hi B.,

Reducing and/or replacing eggs in the diet is fairly easy. Unless you can’t imagine life without an omelette or sunny-side eggs, you can substitute them in just about everything…with great success.

How you change your diet depends on how you buy and cook your food. Do you eat out a lot, does someone else do your cooking, or do you like to cook? Those answers will provide the correct path.

If you are not the one shopping and cooking you will need that person to understand what you want to achieve, and help he/she to provide the appropriate foods (teaching what to buy and how to prepare it). If you are responsible solely for your food preparation you will be astounded how easy the change can be. Either way, you need to start with what to buy and how to use it. Only you know what you enjoy eating, but when you change your diet a little, you’ll find you are more open to new types of foods and seasonings and flavors.

The primary uses for eggs in the diet are as breakfast staples (fried, poached, scrambled, French toast, etc.), and for egg salad, hard boiled eggs in salads, quiches, custards, casseroles, baked goods, mayonnaise, and even pickled eggs. Let’s see how to substitute these standards…Recipes in tab above: Egg-Free Recipes  

As for your question about good-tasting, gluten-free bread, I suggest trying the different brands in the freezer section at Whole Foods or Stop & Shop (natural foods area). Keep the loaves frozen and remove the slices as you use them. Gluten-free bread tends to dry out quickly and become more crumbly. Thawing as needed gives you the best chance of tasty bread. I do not suggest raw, sprouted breads for sandwiches—too dense.

Another way to have a great-tasting sandwich is to use lettuce leaves as a wrap for your fillings. You can have just about any kind of sandwich in a lettuce wrap…trying different types of wide-leaf lettuces will give you more options. 

Why not try to replace eggs with…

Breakfast Staples:
Scrambled tofu with onions and peppers
Pan-fried baked tofu with soy sausage
French toast stuffed with fresh fruit (or preserves) and soy cream cheese

Salads:
Faux egg salad
Tips on how to add eggyness to green salads & potato/pasta salads

Quiches, Custards, Casseroles:
Spinach, Onion, Tomato Quiche
Coconut Custard or buy prepared custard and pudding mixes which can made with soy or nut milks
Broccoli & Rice Casserole

Baked Goods:
The function of the egg in the recipe dictates the substitute.
Eggs are used as binders in brownies and cookies; muffins and cakes get their leavening (partially) from eggs.

A recipe calling for one egg will usually work fine without the egg or a substitute (3 tablespoons of water or other fluid will compensate for the lost liquid).

Binding Agent:

• ·         Grind 1 tablespoon flax seeds into a powder; blend with ¼ cup water (allow to gel 5 mins.) = Replaces 1 egg
• ·         One small, sweet or white potato, mashed = Replaces 1 egg (also adds moisture)
• ·         ½ cup mashed banana or applesauce= Replaces 1 egg (also adds moisture)
• ·         ¼ cup silken tofu (processed in a blender)= Replaces 1 egg (also adds moisture)
• ·         1 cup yogurt (dairy or soy)=Replaces 1-2 eggs (also adds moisture)

Leavening and Binding Agent:

• ·         Ener-G Egg Replacer— use as directed (available in most health food stores and Whole Foods markets)
• ·         One teaspoon baking powder (additionally to recipe)
• ·         1 tsp. baking powder, 1 T. water, 1 T. white vinegar (whisk together)= 1 egg

Mayonnaise:
Mayonnaise is pretty easy to make at home, but it’s easily available in health food stores and in many markets besides Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Nayonaise and Veganaise are both good choices—it’s a matter of taste.

Pickled Eggs:
I can’t help you on this one! Pickled tofu would be the closest, but wow! Yuck! It would be so soggy. I say go for pickled veggies and call it a day.