Managing Weight Gain during Menopause

Fiber and Weight Loss

Why all the Weight Gain?

It's all about metabolism!  Changes in our hormone levels combined with an increase in stress hormones as we age reek havoc on the metabolic system causing us to gain weight.  So that five to ten pounds you could negotiate off quite easily in your thirties doesn't come off quite so easily in your forties, fifties and beyond.  It gathers in the middle and settles in for the long haul.  What's worse is that sometimes, changing your diet and upping your exercise doesn't melt the pounds off like you think it should.

So what really happens?  Why do women seem to start packing on the weight during menopause?  Metabolism is definitely the culprit here but it isn't just a natural result of an aging body but more the result of chronic imbalances in blood sugar and insulin.  Your body at the cellular level needs glucose as fuel to work properly.  When you eat carbohydrates, they are converted to energy or glucose, that your body uses as fuel.  This glucose circulates through the blood stream.

Insulin is needed to unlock gates leading into the cells so glucose can enter and be used as fuel.  Your pancreas releases insulin in response to the glucose in your blood stream. 

Some carbohydrates are fast acting energy suppliers.  In other words the conversion rate from carbohydrate to sugar is fast and the glucose enters the blood stream quickly.   These fast release carbohydrates stimulate the pancreas to secrete large amounts of insulin so the blood sugars can be processed.  Unfortunately, our diets are rich in fast release carbohydrates.  These are the refined carbs., like white sugar, corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, white flour products, etc.  When blood sugar levels continue to stay high, the pancreas gets tired of overworking to get insulin pumped out.  So the body's ability to produce insulin becomes impaired and overtime cannot keep up.  The insulin becomes less effective and blood sugar levels climb, causing damage to red blood cells, nerves and blood vessel walls.

Insulin Resistance or Syndrome X is a condition where the cell gates stop responding to insulin.  When the gates don't open the cells don't get energy which has an adverse affect on the metabolic rate.  The result is an increased risk of:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Higher levels of LDL or bad cholesterol and lower levels of HDL or good cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Obesity
• Polycystic ovary disease
• Hirsutism-inappropriate hair growth
• Hair Loss
• Acne
• Breast and Endometrial cancers

Most of these fast release carbohydrates are new to our diet.  In the past, our high fiber, complex carbohydrate rich diet and high levels of activity kept our weight, hormones and metabolism nicely balanced, even during perimenopause.  But our current lifestyle is working against us.  It's throwing our natural metabolic balance off and causing our perimenopausal problems to be magnified.