Have you hit menopause rock bottom?

Extraordinarily, there has been little publicity to highlight the fact that menopause symptoms are worsened by smoking & consuming refined sugar and processed & starchy carbs.

OK, firstly — it’s not just hot flushes is it? It’s a whole lot more discomfort aside from those. Symptoms include sadness, anxiety, frustration, fatigue, sleep issues, weight gain, mood swings and then some!

Even if you haven’t experienced it yourself — we’ve all seen how the condition has wreaked havoc on friends careers, home lives, social lives, self-esteem, confidence, and somewhat destroyed their joie de vivre.

Isn’t HRT the answer?

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is seen by many as the “cure all” for the condition and sufferers are understandably so desperate for help they push aside any concerns over HRT being described as neither “safe” or “unsafe”. Aside from that — many don’t qualify for HRT on the basis that they smoke or are overweight.

If it wasn’t so tragic it would be laughable, because of course, some of the symptoms of menopause are almost guaranteed to lead the sufferer to experiencing stress, weight gain, and fatigue. There is no doubt that many smokers cling on to the one thing they genuinely believe helps them to shackle their weight & cope with stress, whereas non-smokers & smokers alike often reach for the foods they believe provide them with a sense of comfort, support, and solace.

It’s a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle; the more miserable, stressed, unhappy, tired, and helpless one feels — the more valuable these perceived crutches appear. The more frequently one reaches for them — the worse the symptoms become. Weight gain and continued smoking become a barrier to HRT, something the sufferer believes will provide them relief.

Severe menopause symptoms fuel smoking and emotional eating, comfort eating & drinking — which in turn fuel menopause symptoms — further fuelling emotional eating & drinking etc.

It’s an awful predicament to be in and bizarrely, few of those most in need of relief from the symptoms of menopause have been told that the action they need to take in order to qualify for HRT (stopping smoking and cutting down on refined sugar, processed & starchy carbs) would quite probably lessen their menopause symptoms to the extent that HRT is no longer required.

How does smoking affect your oestrogen levels?

Not only does smoking diminish the otherwise well-established beneficial effects of oestrogen on hot flushes and urogenital symptoms and its positive effects on lipid metabolism, but smoking also specifically reduces oestrogen’s ability to prevent osteoporosis.

How does eating refined sugar, processed & starchy carbs affect menopause symptoms?

Dr Sarah Berry from the School of Life Course & Population Sciences, Kings College, London, led research that delivered some great news, that changing what you eat can reduce the unfavourable health impacts of menopause by, amongst other things, reducing inflammation and blood sugar spikes.

So how do you go about getting free from addictions and behavioural issues such as smoking, sugar & carb addiction, and emotional eating whilst in the grip of menopausal symptoms?

It is essential that you understand that smoking & comfort-eating junk food exacerbate the severity of the symptoms you’re living with. Not only that — they might even be the major cause.

Once you’ve understood that, you can get to grips with understanding how you became conned into thinking that the very activities you reached for to help you through menopausal misery — were quite possibly the cause of it.

How to re-wire your brain

It’s essential to use a method that doesn’t focus on the harms caused by smoking & eating junk food (after all, you know all about those already), but instead rewires your brain to understand a) how you got tricked into thinking they provided genuine pleasure, enjoyment, and support b) to get rid of the inclination to smoke, eat junk food, or turn to emotional eating. To find out exactly how you can do that click here