Your Prescription for Health Forty’s & Fifties
Eat Right -5 a day of fresh fruits and vegetables, lots of fiber, lean meats, chicken, turkey and fish. No junk food, no fast food . If you do not feel well, chances are you are not eating well!! Do not underestimate the power of healthy eating, or the ability of eating the wrong thing to make you feel badly!! Please visit Healthy Approach Market for nutritional counseling with Bryan Bradford CN (817-399-9100). Read the Eat Clean Diet book. It is awesome at explaining nutrition and helping with weight loss. (www.eatcleandiet.com)
Drink lots of water – it should be your main beverage of the day. Limit caffeine to one a day if you must. Avoid artificial sweeteners, they are thought to increase PMS as well as other health problems
Exercise – For weight loss you need 45-60 minutes a day, 5 times a week. To maintain weight and bone health, 30 minutes a0 day 5 times a week. Yoga and Pilates are great, I like Leslie Sansone walking for weight loss; fun and easy to fit in a busy schedule. Exercise On Demand with cable and satellite – lots of great options for quick workouts.
Weight loss – If you are doing the top 3 you WILL lose weight. In a nutshell, eat protein at EVERY meal, moderate carbohydrates and fats, and fruits, veggies and water at EVERY meal. If you can do this, you will lose weight.
Hormone Balance – In the female body, balance of hormones is key. Women need a balance of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid hormones and cortisol. When this balance is not in place, women can feel symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, forgetfulness, foggy thinking, unwanted weight gain, declining interest in sex, PMS, sleep disturbance…. the list is endless.
Do you have any of these symptoms? Lab tests are not very sensitive for detecting these hormone levels because hormones are protein bound and not free floating in your plasma, therefore we recommend saliva testing for detecting hormone imbalances. This testing includes estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA and cortisol. Saliva testing can accurately measure your free and available hormone levels, eliminating the guessing from your treatment. If we discover a deficiency or imbalance we can monitor your hormone levels after starting bio-identical hormone treatment, which allows us to individualize your hormone therapy. Blood testing can evaluate your thyroid hormone, fasting sugar, insulin and cholesterol. There are 2 options for treatment, non-hormonal relief such as soy, black cohosh and other herbs, or estrogen and progesterone. You can use synthetic hormones, or bio identical hormones compounded at the pharmacy. These are personal as well as medical decisions, and the facts keep changing as studies are being conducted. Hormones won’t give you cancer, but if you have one, it will cause it to grow and sometimes aid in earlier detection. If you decide on hormone therapy, there are a lot of options, pills, patch, ring, creams, which we can discuss and try. We work with several compounding pharmacies that can make your hormone preparation based on your individual needs. • Decreased libido is also a common complaint. If intercourse is painful due to vaginal dryness we can treat that with lubrication or vaginal estrogen. There are also some creams available at the compounding pharmacy that can help increase sensation down there. If hormones are out of balance, this could be a symptom. I don’t have a magic pill for libido itself, I think today’s woman is very stressed with work, husbands, kids…and this is the area we put on the back burner. I think attitude is key here. • Safer sex – Based on your personal situation, remember to protect yourself if you are sexually active. There are numerous STD’s out there. • HPV – Human Papilloma Virus. It is sexually transmitted. Over 100 strains of the virus. A few strains cause abnormal pap smears, a few cause genital warts. A vaccine is available for women ages 9-26. It takes 3 injections over 6 months. Tested every year with your pap smear in women over 30. Together a pap and HPV status predict your risk for pre cancer of the cervix. • If you are done with children and experience heavy or painful periods please talk to us about options such as an endometrial ablation. • Pap smears every year. Papsure is optional; it allows us to look at your cervix with a special light and microscope. It can pick up things a pap smear can miss. Probably worth the money. • Mammograms yearly after 40. Breast self exam monthly. • Fasting lab work every few years. Have a good family doctor or internist follow your high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes. They are more familiar with changes in research and medication options. • Bone Density every 1-2 years after 50 or menopause (sooner if smoker, history of asthma, or thyroid disorder). If you have normal bones, continue your weight bearing exercise and calcium 1500 mg a day. If you are on Fosamax or Actonel, we probably don’t need to check your bones every year, as changes of improvement are very subtle. • Colonoscopy – begin at 50 unless family history dictates earlier, and repeat every 3-10 years. Your GI will tell you when to return. • Vitamins – a good multivitamin, calcium 1500mg a day total (diet and supplements) in divided doses, Fruits & Veggies if not obtained from diet (Juice Plus, Nature’s Way). B Complex good for energy and cholesterol, essential fatty acids (fish oil). Vitamin C 1000mg a day for anti-oxidant. • Recommended Reading: You, The Owner’s Manual by Dr Michael Roizen & Dr Mehmet Oz is a must read. It really hits the high points on every body system, how it works, and what to do to help your body feel great. Also Dr. John Lee’s Hormone Balance Made Simple is an easy read and makes sense of complicated hormone explanations. The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno is a must read. Also, CW Randolph’s From Belly Flat to Belly Fat is a great, easy read and hits on vitamins, eating right, thyroid balance and hormone balance for weight loss and feeling great. The 30 day diet plan in this book is a guarantee to lose weight.