Supplements are the practical way to replenish levels of this nutrient, because organ meats are the only significant food source, but very few people eat organ meats. Numerous studies have found that CoQ10 significantly improves the health of people suffering from heart disease and aids in recovery from a heart attack. Other research has shown that CoQ10 can help reduce blood pressure, improve blood sugar control among diabetes, aid in breast cancer treatment, help to heal gum disease and improve capacity to exercise.

So how much should you take? After age 35, I recommend taking 50 milligrams, however, if you’re overweight or have high blood pressure, fatigue, diabetes, or any form of heart disease or other illness, take 100 to 200 milligrams.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, not one state in the U.S. had an obesity rate under 20 percent in 2010.   Thirty-six states had populations with obesity rates of 25 percent or higher.  Approximately one-third of U.S. adults (33.8 percent) are obese, and about 17 percent of kids aged 2-19 years are as well.  In the last 30 years childhood obesity has tripled, setting children up for future health problems that can dramatically shorten their lives: diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and certain types of cancer.

Embracing a heart-healthy diet can and should be a family affair. Focusing on eating whole, fresh foods instead of processed ones can help your family beat the battle of the bulge without feeling deprived.

Here is a list of top foods to incorporate into your diet to keep your heart healthy and to prevent a heart attack:

• Fruits and Vegetables – the high fiber content in fruits and vegetables decreases the buildup of plaque in the arteries and less plaque means decreased blockages to the heart.
• Nuts – Walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans and pistachio nuts are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids that can reduce blood cholesterol. All nuts are high in calories, so a handful will do.
• Oats – eaten daily, oats can clean arteries better than some medications.
• Salmon and Flaxseed – rich in omega-3 fatty acids, salmon and flaxseed lower triglycerides.
• Garlic – numerous studies have shown benefits of regular garlic consumption on blood pressure, platelet aggregation, triglyceride levels and cholesterol levels.
• Berries and cherries – these fruits are high in polyphenols, which prevent cell damage that creates unhealthy blood vessels and heart.
• Quinoa – this tiny seed is an excellent source of magnesium, the mineral that relaxes blood vessels. Low levels of magnesium lead to hypertension, heart disease and arrhythmias.

At age 30, people who are physically inactive lose anywhere from 3 to 5 percent of their total muscle mass per decade. After the age of 50, the rate of loss doubles. This is the biggest reason why elderly people become frail, and, because muscle dictates metabolism, is the basic cause of weight gain.  

As muscle mass declines, due to inactivity, the body needs less fuel from food. Therefore, even if you don’t eat more, as you lose muscle, more and more of your calories will be stored as fat. On top of that, with age, your body becomes less efficient at converting the protein you eat into muscle tissue, which worsens the muscle-wasting process.

Loss of age-related muscle mass and strength is known as sarcopenia, and becomes a huge problem for elderly people who become frail to the point that they cannot get out of a chair or walk across a room without assistance. This also increases the risk of for falls and broken bones as a result of those falls. Getting in the habit of practicing strength training in your 20s or 30s is good, but no worries if your pass that mark. As I mentioned before, you can quickly reverse the effects of muscle loss with strength training. Studies of nursing home residents found that as little as two weeks of strength-building exercises, with weights or other resistance, can produce dramatic changes in their ability to function. Imagine what it can do for you!

But first, some background information on the thyroid. As one of the largest glands that produce hormones in the body, the thyroid is critical to your metabolism as well as regulating other functions in the body, including energy and heat production, tissue repair, regulating protein, carbohydrate and fat metabolism, and muscle and nerve action.

Your diet can create a sluggish thyroid that will lower your metabolism and cause weight gain. For example, low-fat diets cause high insulin and leptin levels. You can make a great impact on the function of your thyroid by focusing on toxin exposures, diet and stress levels, which would improve metabolism and allow for weight loss. A diet low in sugars and refined carbohydrates and high in vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats will give you the nutrients you need to support your thyroid.

There are some studies that show a connection between gluten sensitivity and thyroid antibody production. You don’t have to have Celiac Disease to have sensitivity to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. Many people are sensitive to gluten and may experience bloating, cramps, weight gain, difficulty concentrating, skin rashes when they eat foods containing wheat, rye or barley. Those with sensitivities may make antibodies that cross-react with the thyroid and reduce thyroid function. Consider a gluten-free diet for eight weeks and see if you feel a difference.

Tips for improving thyroid function through what you eat:

• Incorporate foods high in selenium such as seafood, shellfish, eggs, beef liver and beef kidneys. Sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, mushrooms, garlic and onions are other good sources.
• Zinc can improve thyroid function as well. This mineral is especially important for middle-aged to elderly people since thyroid concerns and zinc deficiencies become more frequent with age. Good food sources of zinc include beans, nuts, crab, lobster and whole grain.
• Thiamine is a mineral important to maintain optimum thyroid function. It is found in fortified cereals, milk, enriched whole grains and vegetables.
• Avoid eating cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts in raw form as they can negatively impact an unhealthy thyroid. However, cooking these vegetables reduces the effects of the ingredients that harm the thyroid.
• If you’re taking thyroid medications avoid eating any dairy products, soy products, walnuts or high-fiber foods within four hours of taking the medication as they can interfere with the medicine absorption. Studies have shown that there is no difference in the effectiveness of thyroid medication if it is taken at night instead of in the morning. Taking thyroid medication two hours after eating at night might be easier than trying to wait an hour to eat breakfast if you’re taking it in the morning. Either way works – it just depends on what works best for you.

To support hormonal balance, weight loss, and good health, there are some key ingredients to look for when choosing a multivitamin.

• Vitamin A, which supports thyroid function, enhances your metabolism and allows for weight loss.
• B vitamins, which have many weight-loss qualities including helping metabolism, keeping adrenal glands healthy, converting carbohydrates into energy and breaking down fats and protein.
• Vitamin C, an antioxidant that is important during times of stress and vital for virtually all aspects of wellness, including healthy metabolism. Low levels of Vitamin C correlate with excess weight and might promote cravings for sweet or salty snacks, or beverages that are sugary or contain stimulants, such as caffeine.

Multivitamins don’t contain adequate Vitamin D, and it is estimated that only four percent of Americans consume enough Vitamin D, so taking Vitamin D in supplement form is important. Vitamin D plays a major role in overall health, but in weight loss terms, it helps the pancreas release insulin and endocrinologists have discovered that weight-loss success is more likely for those taking Vitamin D.

Other vitamins and minerals for weight loss include:

• Chromium, an essential nutrient involved in the regulation of carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Chromium has been recognized for its beneficial effect on reducing blood sugar levels, burning calories, decreasing sugar cravings, reducing fat and decreasing cortisol.
• Selenium, acts as an antioxidant and is required for proper thyroid function.
• Zinc, another trace mineral, is good for your metabolism, helps insulin do its job and necessary for healthy thyroid function.
• Calcium, is required for breaking up fats and energy production. Too much though can reduce thyroid function and make it more difficult to lose weight.
• L-Carnitine, is helpful for weight loss by converting stored fat into energy.

In the years leading up to menopause, known as perimenopause, women start having hormone fluctuations starting with lower progesterone. Add in some stress and your progesterone lowers even more because your body will use it to help make more cortisol. Once menopause hits, your estrogen will begin to fall significantly, and you might notice an increase of fat around your belly. This happens because some of estrogen’s functions are to increase metabolism and insulin sensitivity. As perimenopause and menopause progress, symptoms might increase including hot flashes, weight gain, difficulty sleeping and a host of other problems. Some women can relieve these symptoms with lifestyle changes, supplements and herbs, while other women might choose to replace missing hormones with replacement therapy.

Men can’t escape weight gain due to hormone imbalances either. As men age, testosterone – a hormone with many functions to help maintain weight – starts to decline. And due to lifestyle habits, many men under the age of 40 have low testosterone levels for their age. Low testosterone leads to increase fat mass and weight gain, which then sets off a chain reaction that often leads to fatigue, depression, inflammation, and further weight gain.

We’ve talked a lot about how stress can lead to hormone imbalances and weight gain, but another side effect to stress concerns the thyroid. The thyroid is in charge of metabolism. If your cortisol is high due to stress it tells your body to conserve energy, therefore your thyroid secretes less active hormone and reduce your metabolism, leading to weight gain.

If you’re still having trouble overcoming symptoms of hormone imbalance even after making lifestyle changes, you may want to consider hormone replacement therapy. However, it’s very important to find a physician that specializes in hormone testing and is dedicated to treating the underlying cause of your symptoms and not just your symptoms. A physician who understands bioidentical hormones is also important because they have the correct shape to fit into all the receptors on the cells in your body.

Making sure your sleeping conditions promote a good night’s sleep is the first step. This includes having a quiet room because if you’re woken up by sound it will disrupt your sleep cycle and make it difficult to fall back to sleep. If you live in a noisy city, consider earplugs or a sound machine. Set your thermostat to an appropriate temperature, not too hot or too cold. Keep your room as dark as possible since any light will disturb the production of melatonin, your sleep hormone. Lastly, make sure your room is comfortable and inviting.

One of the most important things about getting a good night’s sleep is making sure your blood sugar level stays stable throughout the night. If your blood sugar level drops during the night, your body interprets that as stress and releases cortisol, which wakes you up and then you have trouble falling back to sleep. Avoid eating refined sugars or drinking caffeine, especially close to bedtime. Despite popular belief that alcohol helps you fall asleep, it actually creates a drop in blood sugar during the middle of the night.

Set yourself up right by doing something relaxing before bed like reading a book, meditating or taking a warm bath. If you get up frequently in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, monitor how much you’re drinking in the evening. If it isn’t that much, speak to your physician because it could be a bladder issue or diabetes. 

Finally, if you’ve followed all of the steps and you’re still having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, there are a few supplements out there you can take – 5-HTP, GABA, Inositol, Magnesium glycinate or Melatonin. I suggest checking with your physician to see if any of these are a good fit for you.

By Ysolt Usigan

Shape.com

November 2, 2011

Flax Gives Salads, Soups, and Sandwiches a Little Crunch

Dr. Alicia Stanton, an integrative medicine physician and author of Hormone Harmony and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hormone Weight Loss, says the oil in flaxseeds is the richest plant source of healthy omega-3 fats, which are necessary for the function of every cell. These healthy fats help reduce inflammation, balance hormones, protect against mood swings and depression, and prevent heart disease, diabetes, and inflammatory diseases like arthritis. The superfood is also high in fiber and can help relieve constipation.

Stanton suggests eating 1 to 2 tablespoons of flaxseeds or flaxseed oil daily to reap maximum health benefits. Try adding toasted flaxseeds to salads, soups, and sandwiches for a pleasant crunch. Stanton adds that while flaxseed oil has the highest concentration of the plant’s omega-3 fats, it has a low smoke point so it’s not recommended for cooking but is good for smoothies, salad dressings, and other foods.

Check out the full slideshow here.

http://newhope360.com/women/natural-hormone-balance-any-age

Delicious Living
Laurie Budgar

As women age, hormones have many opportunities shift out of balance. This guide offers an explanation for what affects hormones and how to regain balance during pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause.

It’s not just puberty and menopause: Women experience hormonal changes throughout their lives. New research shows the onset of menopausal symptoms is often linked to the modern Western lifestyle, including nutrient-poor diets of refined foods, alcohol consumption, smoking, chronic stress, depression, lack of exercise, and exposure to endocrine-disrupting toxins found in common household products.

The good news about symptoms is that “women get a wake-up call,” says Marcelle Pick, RNC, MSN, a Yarmouth, Maine–based ob-gyn nurse practitioner. “When the body is out of balance, it really screams at them. Men have heart attacks. Women have an opportunity to get really healthy.” Making smart lifestyle changes—especially before peak transition times—can help smooth out symptoms, says Alicia Stanton, MD, an Enfield, Connecticut–based integrative physician and coauthor of Hormone Harmony (Healthy Life, 2009)

Pregnancy Years

“Hormones tend to be more stable when women are in their 20s and 30s, unless they have a boatload of stress,” says Pick, who cofounded Women to Women, an integrative clinic that serves women both online and in person. Ordinarily, estrogen is high in the first half of your cycle; in the second half, estrogen comes down and progesterone goes up. Then they both plunge right before your period.

But many women—Stanton estimates as many as 80 percent—have a condition known as estrogen dominance, an imbalance believed to be triggered partly by excess body fat, poor diet, stress, and exposure to estrogenic factors in the environment, such as those leached from most plastics. “Either there’s too much estrogen in the system or not enough progesterone to balance the estrogen,” says Jennifer Johnson, ND, clinical faculty member at the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

PMS. Johnson says symptoms during the pre-period hormone drop may be worse for women with estrogen dominance. Common symptoms include headaches, breast tenderness, irritability, depression, bloating, and cravings.

Infertility. If you’ve ruled out structural problems (such as blocked fallopian tubes)—as well as issues with your male partner—and still can’t get pregnant, you may have low progesterone levels in the second half of your cycle.

Cysts or fibroids. “Estrogen is the proliferative hormone,” explains Erin Lommen, ND, a practitioner based in Clackamas, Oregon, and author of Slim, Sane, and Sexy (Fountain of Youth, 2009). That means it helps grow the uterine lining to prepare for pregnancy, but it also grows cysts, fibroids, and cancers. “Progesterone is the antiestrogen, or the balancer.”

HORMONE HELP

Try a natural progesterone cream. You can pick this up without a prescription, but first be sure your progesterone levels really are low. Your doctor can do a saliva or urine test to find out. Look for a low-dose (2 percent) topical cream and check the ingredient list for USP progesterone rather than wild yam, which the body cannot metabolize into progesterone. Apply about ¼ teaspoon (providing 20 mg of progesterone) to the neck, face, chest, or inner arms; rotate the application site daily. Bio-identical progesterone is safe for women when used as directed, says Pick, but a health care provider should monitor any woman using hormones. Women with breast cancer or a history of breast cancer should not use progesterone cream.

Try supplements. Clamp down on crankiness with a B-complex that has at least 50 mg of B6. Take 500 mg per day of krill oil, or 2,000–3,000 mg of high-quality fish oil each day, with meals, to reduce inflammation and cortisol demand. Johnson also suggests evening primrose oil, 1,200–1,500 mg per day with meals, to ease cramps and help with other estrogen-dominance symptoms. Dandelion (both root and leaf)—100–200 mg, or 1/2 teaspoon of tincture, or two or three cups of tea daily—minimizes bloating and helps the liver eliminate excess hormones; it may not be safe for people on diuretics, Johnson cautions. For fertility issues, try vitex, or chasteberry, 300–400 mg daily unless you are already taking prescribed fertility hormones or are undergoing in vitro fertilization, she says.

Avoid environmental and dietary estrogen sources. These include many plastic water bottles; canned foods with BPA in the lining; personal care products with potentially hormone-disrupting chemicals, such as parabens, phthalates, triclosan, and many fragrances; and nonorganic

Perimenopause

WHAT YOUR HORMONES ARE DOING

About ten years before menopause, your egg quality declines and your hormones begin to shift—estrogen diminishes a little, and progesterone plummets. “Everyone thinks perimenopause is due to low estrogen, but it’s low progesterone very early on,” says Stanton. “It’s not until the end that you get to the low estrogen.”

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Brain fog. Researchers suspect lower estrogen may be partly to blame for the trouble some perimenopausal women report with memory and decision-making, but the stress of busy daily lives makes it worse, Pick says. Chronic stress can lead to adrenal fatigue, a collection of symptoms remarkably similar to perimenopause: insomnia, headaches, fatigue, anxiety, inability to concentrate, and depression. Research also suggests chronically elevated cortisol levels may decrease memory performance.

Weight gain. Yep, stress can make you fat. Cortisol releases sugar into the bloodstream to provide fuel during stressful times, and insulin mops up the excess. With too much sugar to process, the body becomes insulin resistant, and converts the excess to belly fat, or visceral fat, which is linked to greater risk for heart disease and other serious health problems. “Visceral fat is harder to lose,” Lommen says. And for many people, turning to refined-carb “comfort foods” when stressed worsens the cycle.

Sleep problems and hot flashes. Perimenopausal women may have trouble falling or staying asleep, possibly due to low progesterone, high cortisol demands, or a disturbance in melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. Erratic estrogen levels cause hot flashes, says Pick.

HORMONE HELP

Eat right, sleep, and meditate. This will keep cortisol and insulin levels stable, and your weight down. Choose low-glycemic foods like lean proteins and complex carbs, which break down more slowly in the body. Sleep seven hours a night to stabilize cortisol levels and balance appetite hormones leptin and ghrelin. A new study published in Menopause found that women who participated in a mindfulness-based stress-reduction program, which included meditating and mindful stretching, had fewer, less-intense hot flashes, better sleep quality, and less anxiety and perceived stress.

Consider bio-identical hormones. They’re the exact same structure as the hormones you make,” unlike the hormones used in the now-infamous Women’s Health Initiative study, Stanton says. (See “Is Hormone Replacement Safe?,” TKwhere.) Nevertheless, the decision to use bio-identicals remains controversial. “They haven’t been studied to the same degree that synthetic hormones have,” Johnson says. “But I see women having fewer problems adjusting to being on them, and fewer side effects than with synthetic hormones.” Women who have a personal or family history of breast cancer, blood clots, stroke, or heart disease should discuss risks with their physicians. Finally, if you know for certain your progesterone levels are low, a natural progesterone cream also may improve symptoms.

Menopause

WHAT YOUR HORMONES ARE DOING

Menopause occurs when you haven’t had your period for a year. At this point, you really start to lose estrogen. “Estrogen is anti-inflammatory, so when it begins to decline, some people have huge problems with joints. Others have hot flashes; some can’t sleep; some are very anxious,” Pick says. Research shows that estrogen may also protect the heart, brain, bones, and more.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Bone loss. Lower levels of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone contribute to a more rapid loss in bone mass, Stanton says.

Risk for heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and certain cancers. “Hormones are the messengers in our body,” Stanton says. “They send messages between the brain, glands, and organs, and regulate inflammation. Every imbalance in hormones creates an imbalance in the body.”

HOW TO FEEL YOUR BEST

Take vitamin D. Take 2,000 IU daily for bone health, along with calcium (1,200–1,500 mg total daily from diet and supplements), and 400–600 mg magnesium; take all with food. For best absorption, split calcium into 500-mg doses, taking the last dose in the evening with magnesium, reducing the magnesium dose if loose stools result. “Vitamin D is very anti-inflammatory,” says Stanton. Ideally, get your D levels tested in spring and fall, and aim for a result between 30 and 50, Pick says.

Keep active. Do weight-bearing exercise, like standing on one leg—really. It puts pressure on hips, which lose bone mass easily, Johnson says. In one study of postmenopausal women, physical exercise also reduced menopausal symptoms and significantly enhanced quality of life, independent of whether participants were taking hormone therapy.

And what about the years after menopause? “We keep making hormones, we just aren’t cycling them [monthly for possible pregnancy],” Stanton says. “So the women who have sailed through menopause have stable, low levels of hormones,” though a major stressor can trigger an imbalance. To avoid a return to imbalance, Pick says, “continue to have joy in life, and keep taking steps toward vitality.”

Enfield, Conn. (November 1, 2011) – The holiday season is meant to be a time of joy, but for some it can be stressful. There’s so much to do and never enough time to do it, and money is tighter than ever for many people. It’s enough to stress out even the calmest personalities and trigger emotional eating. To avoid this annual trap, Alicia Stanton, MD, leading hormone health expert and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hormone Weight Loss, provides some tips to regain control of eating habits and manage stress during the holidays.

“Stress wreaks havoc on our cortisol and insulin levels, which is why during stressful times our bodies crave sweet and starchy foods,” said Stanton. “People who are normally restrained eaters are more likely than others to eat more during times of stress. Stress eating is a way to soothe or suppress negative emotions, but it can really derail weight loss efforts.”

Dr. Stanton offers these tips for combating stress eating:

• Tame your stress – if stress contributes to your emotional eating, try a stress management technique like yoga, meditation, etc.
• Check to see whether you’re really hungry – Is your hunger physical or emotional? If you ate recently and your stomach is rumbling then you’re probably not really hungry. Give the craving a little time to pass.
• Keep a food diary – Writing down what you eat, when you eat, how much you eat and how you’re feeling when you eat, may show a pattern over time revealing your connection between mood and food.
• Get support – You’re more likely to give in to emotional eating if you lack a good support network. Lean on family and friends or join a support group.
• Remove temptation – Don’t keep supplies of comfort foods in your home if they’re hard to resist. And if you are feeling stressed or sad, postpone your trip to the grocery store until you’re sure that you have your emotions in check.
• Don’t deprive yourself – Let yourself enjoy an occasional, small treat to help curb cravings.
• Get enough sleep – If you’ve tried self-help options, but still can’t get control of emotional eating, consider therapy with a professional mental health provider.