Diet Low Carbs

By Evelyn Tribole, R.D. from Lifetimetv.com

We women are like fine wines: We just get better with age. Save for one little detail: our weight — which seems fated to skyrocket once we hit that developmental milestone menopause. According to the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, obesity in women has nearly doubled in the last two decades; it is a problem that researchers say is particularly acute during perimenopause, the 3 to 10 year period preceding menopause. The Women’s Healthy Lifestyle Project, a five year study of 585 perimenopausal women funded by the National Institute of Health, found that women who don’t change their lifestyles gain an average of 5.2 pounds during that period.

But before you throw in the towel and submit to age-related weight gain, consider this: Understanding the new set of rules governing your body’s changes can provide you with concrete ways to manage your weight. Here’s what is happening: As you age, your body stops ovulating and produces less and less estrogen. Meanwhile, the hormone testosterone ( no, it’s not just in men ) remains at the same level. This increase in the estrogen to testosterone ratio triggers the expansion of our waistlines, since our fat distribution changes to be more like a man’s, shifting from our hips and buttocks to our waists. ( one bright note: Once this transition is completed, half of all women find that their thighs have actually decreased in size!)

As our waistline fills out, some weight gain is inevitable , although the amount can range from 2 to 20 pounds. However, another key finding of the Women’s Healthy Lifestyle Project was that women who engage in physical activity and adhere to a low-fat, reduced calorie diet are very likely to maintain their weight or lose weight. The bottom line: Your hormones don’t have to have the last word — you can keep off the weight.

9 Tactics for staying fit during menopause.

1. Pump some iron. Lean body mass, which acts as a calorie-burning machine, naturally decreases as you age. Lifting weights two to three times a week can help you maintain your muscle mass and keep your metabolism revved.
2.  Exercise your options. Your metabolism slows down 10 to 15 % during midlife, mainly due to decreased muscle mass, Aerobic, cardiovascular exercise is crucial to minimizing the weight gain and fat storage that would naturally result from this downshift. Walk, jog, bike, swim or do an aerobics tape for at least one hour a day most days of the week.
3. Eat right. Dieting — defined as traditional low-calorie plans, so-called fat-burning pills and fad diets, including Atkins can actually worsen midlife weight gain. That’s because dieting increases the level of enzymes that tell your body to store fat. To effectively manage your weight through food, craft a balanced diet of nutrient-rich foods and eat only when you are hungry.
4. Cut quantities. As we age, our bodies need fewer calories. If you downsize the amount you eat at each meal, but increase the number of meals you have each day, you’ll find that you have more energy and a more balanced mood. Aim to consume five to six small meals each day, eating no more than three fistfuls of food each time.
5. Seek satisfaction. With less estrogen in your body, it’s easier to overeat, since estrogen helps to trigger the feeling of being full. However eating high-satiety (aka Filling) foods, including those high in protein ( such as chicken, turkey, eggs, fish, beans, tofu, nuts) and those high in fiber ( such as whole grain cereals, dried beans, whole grain crackers, fruits, vegetables ), help you feel satisfied and stop you from overeating.
   
6. Love lunch. It’s a somewhat controversial  concept, but some experts recommend eating your biggest meal at lunch rather than dinner to control weight gain.
7. Limit alcohol. Since alcohol has been shown to increase abdominal weight gain, do not have more than one drink a day.
8. Relax! Periods of stress cause increased storage of fat around the abdomen — and years of stress can actually disrupt your fat cell’s ability to make estrogen, causing them to expand in an effort to compensate. The best thing you can do is not to get too worked up about impending weight gain ( or anything else!) and find ways to release stress — through exercise, meditation, journal-writing, therapy or conversations with friends.
9. Look on th ebright side! There is some good nres: Once you’ve completed the "change of life" your fat cells start to shrink and produce less fat. While you will never have the meteabolism you had when you were 20, your weight will get somewhat easier to mansge after perimenopause.

I was raised on a slightly modified diabetic eating plan. My father was a type 1 diabetic so my mother always prepared our meals based on fathers diabetic needs. Now, as an adult, I find that there really is no healthier way of eating. Our meals were prepared from home grown vegetables, berries, orchard fruits and our main meat source was  home grown animals, chickens, pigs and very rarely beef.

Science now proves that a diet low in carbs was a very healthy lifestyle. Sugar was restricted but we were never aware of this. We never felt deprived in any way. When you’re not exposed to excessive amounts of carbohydrates you also don’t crave them. A very little amount of sugar seemed to go a long way back then.

Compared then to now,  the large choice of products on our grocery shelves don’t even allow us these easy to prepare healthy choices. I really do not understand why we, the public, don’t demand low carbohydrate products. Our lifestyles have changed, we are all too busy to prepare meals the way our mothers did. It should not automatically follow that every easily purchased product has to be packed with sugar.

Try finding a cookie that is not loaded with sugar. Now try finding the time to make your own healthy low carb cookies. Both tasks seem equally difficult. My wish is to be able to purchase products in any grocery store that adhere to low carb diet plans. This automatically makes them a healthy eating approach that fosters easy weight loss and keeps us from becoming another individual to join the tens of millions of people who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes yearly.

When you’re a hypothyroid, post menopausal female who hates to exercise weight just naturally will find you and won’t let go. I have been struggling with this weight issue for 25 years and very slowly losing the battle. After the age of 40, without really changing my eating habits, I seemed to gain 3 or 4 lbs every year. If you care to do the math that weight gain amounts to overweight in only a matter of a few years.

The low fat regime that all the health professionals encourage only starved me and made me very grumpy. I didn’t even lose weight; after all that sacrifice and still no weight loss – I was very discouraged.

I retired a few years ago and we took several wonderful vacations and I can’t even enjoy the pictures, if I’m in one of them. So, it was time to face this weight issue once again.

This time I tried the Atkins low carbohydrate diet and couldn’t believe how simple weight loss can be.

The 1^st week was kind of rough. I felt weak certain days while my body was going through the shift to burning fat, but after that my cravings disappeared. The weight started melting off – I truly could not believe that this was working for me. I mentioned I hate exercise, well the weight dropped off even without exercise. I know it would be much better if I did regular exercise but running after my grandchildren, regular housework, and gardening is enough for me.

Living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada I’ve found that I have to order some low carbohydrate foods through the internet. I can’t seem to find many products in our local grocery or health food stores. This needs to change. Why do we need to spend more money to purchase foods that are the healthiest diet lifestyle ever?

Check back with me again and I’ll share both the technique I used and the foods that I now enjoy, guilt free, and hunger free on my way to my ideal weight.