3-Menopause-Mistakes

My Dear Sister,

If you are like most women our age, haywire hormones have left you feeling...

● Uncomfortable in your own body
● Depleted and drained of energy
● Frustrated when you can’t focus or remember things
● Discouraged when you look in the mirror
● Confused by your crazy unpredictable mood swings
● Indifferent when it comes to sex and intimacy
● Discouraged that life will never be the same again

If this is how you feel right now I am so glad you found my special report!

As an OBGYN and women’s health expert it is my life’s work to help women
experience a better life through better health. I’ve helped thousands of women
over the years, and now I am very passionate about helping women reduce the
negative symptoms associated with The Big Change.

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I see so many women our age suffering unnecessarily because they simply
don’t know any better.

So in this special report I am going to reveal...
1. The popular daily habit that is wreaking havoc on your hormones
2. The fat burning food group you’ve been brainwashed to avoid
3. The self-inflicted stressor that is draining your brain all day long

Menopause Mistake #1: Drinking diet sodas

It’s after lunch and your energy for the day is already gone. You need an ener-
gy boost right away, and something a little sweet would be nice, but you don’t
want the calories.

So you reach for your afternoon savior... a diet soda!

You’ve heard that diet drinks aren’t good for you, but how bad could it be?

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The truth is that diet sodas are very, very bad for many reasons, but here are
the top 3 reasons they are bad for women during menopause...

Reason #1: Caffeine upsets your delicate hormone symphony

That burst of energy you feel when you drink caffeine is your adrenal glands
producing the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. This is exactly the
same response your body uses when you are in imminent physical danger.

The extra adrenaline and cortisol are there to give you the energy you need to
escape a predator. This fight or flight response is something that only happens
occasionally “in the wild” but in our modern society many women use caf-
feine to get that jolt on a daily basis. These hormones may also increase your
body’s glucose production so your blood sugar increases.

After prolonged caffeine usage most people notice that it doesn’t give them
the same rush it used to. This is because constant stimulation of the adrenals
‘short circuits’ our neurologic feedback system and our safety response is to
put the brakes on!

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This is where most people get confused when we hear the term ‘adrenal fa-
tigue’. The adrenals don’t give out but the body tells them to slow down. The
paraventricular nucleus (PVN) region in the brain, says WOAH! And the brakes
are pressed causing the symptoms of low cortisol and can cause our other hor-
mones to be out of balance too.

Why is this a big deal? Because the weakened hormonal adrenal connection
(hypothalamic pituitary adrenal or HPA axis) can lead to…

● Fat accumulation in the mid-section
● Sleep disturbances
● Hair loss
● Anxiety and panic attacks
● Inability to handle stress, concentrate, or focus
● Decreased resilience
● Low libido and lack of sex drive
● Depression
● Endometriosis
● Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

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● Uterine fibroids
● Fibrocystic breast disease
● Ovarian cysts
● Breast cancer

The HPA axis consists of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the adrenal
glands. Each of these glands communicates with each other and our gonads or
sex glands.

If one of these systems (like the adrenal glands) gets imbalanced it can disrupt
the delicate dance of hormones that keep you feeling healthy and happy.

We want healthy and happy, right?

Reason #2: Phosphoric acid increases your risk of hip fracture

Diet sodas are very acidic thanks to the addition of phosphoric acid. On the pH
scale (where water is “neutral” at 7) most diet sodas come in at between 2.38
and 4.75.

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This is acidic enough to dissolve the enamel on your teeth!

Your blood pH level must be stable at 7.4 (ranging 7.35 to 7.45) or you die, so
your body must find a way to neutralize the acid you just drank. The fastest
way to do this is with calcium, and the biggest source of calcium in your body is
your bones.

This explains why there is an association between people who have high soda
intake and risk of fracture. Researchers at Tufts University found that women
who drank 3 or more cola-based sodas had almost 4% lower bone mineral
density in the hip.

Reason 3: Artificial sweeteners cause weight gain

The inclusion of artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin
(instead of sugar or corn syrup) is what makes a diet soda a “diet” food. But re-
cent research indicates that these artificial sweeteners may actually be making
us fat.

The physiological reasons behind this are not completely understood yet, but

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what we do know is that there are sweet taste receptors in the mouth that send
messages to other parts of the body that “calories are coming!”

So what happens when the body gets ready for calories (turning on digestion,
secreting insulin, etc.) but then those calories never come?

● Rats ate more food and gained more weight when artificial sweeteners
were added to their normal diet.

● Associations have been found between artificial sweetener intake and in-
cidence of the metabolic syndrome (increased waist circumference, blood
pressure, and fasting blood glucose).

● Studies have demonstrated links between artificial sweetener consump-
tion and insulin resistance, incidence of type 2 diabetes, and poor glu-
cose control in diabetics.

● The delicate balance between “hungry” and “full” hormones is upset with
increased consumption of artificial sweeteners. So our brain doesn’t re-
ceive the “full signal” and we stay hungry or experience strong cravings.

Ready to quit diet soda yet?

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Hopefully after reading this you’ll think twice before reaching for the diet soda
when you need some quick energy. Here are some healthier drink alternatives
you may want to consider:

• With a ph of 5, black coffee is less acidic than soda. It also contains high
levels of antioxidants your body can easily absorb. Instead of cream, try add-
ing a teaspoon of ghee and coconut oil (blend in a frother for best creamy re-
sults) to jumpstart your body’s fat burning abilities right away in the morning.

• Green tea also contains high levels of antioxidants which may explain why
the Japanese enjoy low levels of cancer despite high incidence of smoking.

• If you really want an afternoon energy kick then try drinking green drinks
made from greens like kale, chlorella, and spinach. My favorite is Mighty
Maca Greens which I personally formulated. It has all the healthy stuff you
need (like parsley) and all the yummy stuff you want (like apples and blueber-
ries). I’ll send you a 30 day supply as a free bonus when you sign up for my
Magic Menopause program!

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Menopause Mistake #2: Eating a low-fat diet

If you are my age then you were in your 20s when the “low fat” movement hit
big in the 1980s. The idea was that if you wanted to lose fat you needed to stop
eating fat. Makes sense, right? The problem is that the low-fat movement of the
1980s was based on just 1 faulty scientific study from the 1950s.

In the 1950s a scientist named Ancel Keys started a study which looked at the
association between diet and cardiovascular disease in 7 different countries.
The study proved that the countries where fat consumption was the highest
had the most heart disease, supporting the idea that eating too much fat (espe-
cially cholesterol!) caused heart disease.

The problem is that Dr. Keys only used data from the countries that supported
his theory and he intentionally left out countries where...

● People eat a lot of fat but have little heart disease, (Holland and Norway).
● Fat consumption is low but the rate of heart disease is high (Chile).

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Keys’ highly skewed study claimed that for optimal health we should avoid ani-
mal fats and over half of our daily calories should come from grains. This study
got lots of traction in the media and even landed Keys on the cover of Time
magazine in 1961.

As a result Keys was brought in to testify in front of the “Senate Committee on
Nutrition and Human Needs” who in 1977 published the “Dietary Goals for the
United States” which parroted Dr. Key’s low-fat gospel.

This is what jump started the low-fat movement of the 80s which then led to the
obesity epidemic of the 90s. Even though the low-fat “brainwash” happened
over 30 years ago, I am amazed at how many women still avoid fat like the
plague.

The truth is that our paleolithic ancestors thrived on a high-fat, low-carb diet for
thousands of years. Although mortality rates were very high, and most “cave
women” didn’t live to see 40, they didn’t die from modern diseases like diabetes
and breast cancer. They died from the side-effects of living in a harsh, uncivi-

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lized environment like disease, famine, and war.

In more modern times anthropologists have watched native tribes develop obe-
sity and diabetes in just 1 generation after being introduced to government-sub-
sidized sources of complex carbohydrates like wheat and rice.

So what is it about grains that makes them so unhealthy?

When you eat bread, pasta, potatoes, or rice they are quickly broken down by
your digestive system into glucose which is sugar. Your pancreas releases in-
sulin to drive that sugar into your muscle cells to be used as energy.

This is great if you plan on spending the day outdoors doing manual labor, but
most of us spend our days living indoors in relative ease. So when all this extra
energy is not needed by your muscles, insulin drives that extra blood sugar into
your fat stores “just in case” you need it later.

But most of us don’t need it later and so those fat deposits build up day after
day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. And as long as

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you are eating a high-carb diet and you have lots of insulin in your system your
body is stuck in fat storage mode.

If you want to get your body out of fat storage mode you need a scarcity of car-
bohydrates. When you have a scarcity of carbohydrates for your body it will go
looking for other energy sources. After about 3 days without carbs most of the
insulin (the “fat storage hormone”) will be out of your system and your body will
start burning fat and produce ketone bodies.

Ketone bodies are acetone, acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate and are
formed from the breaking down of fatty acids in the liver. This is a good thing,
especially if you have fatty liver, alzheimer’s, dementia, foggy brain and want
fat loss! The research also supports that this state and intermittent mini-fasting
contributes to a decreased risk of breast cancer.

You can jump start the process of getting your body into ketosis (fat burning
mode) by eating plenty of healthy fats! In my Magic Menopause program I in-
struct my students to eat a wide variety of healthy fats like: olive oil, coconut oil,
avocado, whole organic eggs, free range bacon, salmon, nuts, and meats.

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Just imagine eating a veggie omelette with bacon for breakfast, an avocado
stuffed with chicken salad for lunch, and grilled shish kabobs for dinner… and
knowing that these delicious, filling food choices are helping you lose weight,
balance hormones and feel great!

Most women on my Magic Menopause meal plans see the scale shift within
just two days of starting the program. They also report enjoying increased men-
tal capacity, feeling like the “fog has lifted”, more energy, less aches and stiff-
ness, clearer more youthful complexion and just feeling healthy!

Menopause Mistake #3: Multitasking

You may be saying, “What?! How will I get through my day?”

I am going to ask you a quick question and I want you to give me an honest
answer…

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While reading this ebook have you replied a text message, answered a call, or
glanced at an incoming email?

If your life is anything like mine then, chances are high that there have been
many opportunities to “multitask” in the last 10 minutes. My phone, tablet, and
computer are constantly alerting, reminding, and updating me on everything I
need to do and know.

There are many times that I find myself doing 3 or 4 things at once:

● Making dinner (which includes looking at an online recipe) while...
● Answering some emails (did that meeting get rescheduled?) and...
● Eavesdropping on my teenage daughter’s phone call (how did that date

go with the new boy she likes?) and...
● Making sure my dad took his evening supplements (“Oh my goodness.”)
● Taking an important incoming call (“Oh no, I’m not busy, not busy at all!”)

And the next thing I know my dad is asking “What’s on fire?” because I burned
dinner trying to do too many things at once.

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But the real costs of multitasking are much more than burning dinner.

Multitasking Cost #1: Increased stress, fat-igue and inflam-aging

You see, our brains are not actually wired to incessantly multitask, and trying to
do too many things at once really stresses our brains out. The constant zings
release cortisol and dopamine, deplete serotonin and ravenously use ATP - our
energy molecules.

Translated that means our fuel source gets taxed to produce neurohormones
in response to the distractions, novelty and urgencies. We become anxious,
stressed, foggy and tired.

Just in case you don’t remember our old friend cortisol from Menopause Mis-
take #1 about diet sodas, it’s the “fight, flight or freeze” hormone that also
causes increased appetite, memory problems, and heart disease among other
things.

Multi-tasking Cost #2: Decreased connection

Multi-tasking also gets in the way of our 1-on-1 connections with the people we

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care most about. How many times have you completely ignored someone you
love because you were reading an email, texting, or looking at facebook?

More times than I care to admit my 8 year-old has been telling me a super cute
story and I missed it all because I had my face in my phone or thoughts else-
where. It really pains me to write this. I lost years with my oldest children from
being a doctor on call and tied to my pager or phone. I realize so thankfully
now that this time with my family is so important and I am needed no matter
how old they are. This is really what we’ve worked so hard to attain: Loving
relationships and connections.

1-on-1 connections are actually chances to increase the “love and bonding”
hormone oxytocin which is released when we connect with other people. It
even has the power to buffer our stress response by decreasing cortisol.

Our loved ones need to know we are listening to them and that they have our
attention too. This fuels our spirit as well.

I’ve begun the practice called the “Daily Examen” by St. Ignatius. Basically, I

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reflect on:
● Where did I see God/holiness/goodness today?
● Where could I have been more kind, patient, or loving today?
● What am I grateful for?

I’d gotten in the habit of doing this and one morning I truly will say I had the
perfect morning. You moms (especially you single moms) know this is so rare.

As my daughter smiled at me, looking in my eyes as she went out to the bus,
I truly felt and saw the face of God in her smile. When I returned from the bus
stop to the house and was ready to rouse up my teenager who typically runs
late, she greeted me as she was leaving the house with a beautiful smile, nice
chat, and again I saw the face of God in her smile.

Now, to be honest, it’s not often I see the face of God in my children. Often I
feel like I’m battling little demons (LOL!) but this feeling of peace and love so
overflowed from me and within me this day… it renewed my faith and commit-
ment to this practice.

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My mantra in the midst of the busyness of life is:

Pause. Breath. Smile. Connect.

In this modern world it would be unreasonable to think that we would never
multitask again, that we could throw away our electronic devices forever to
spend endless quality time with our families. There are going to be times when
you do have to answer that call while cooking dinner, or reply to a text when
you are out with your family. We get to chose.

In my Magic Menopause program there is a module called “Living with Peace
and Purpose” where I recommend designating certain times when you give the
people you love your full attention. This is such an important discipline and
practice which leads to long term fulfillment.

● Bedtime with my 8 year-old daughter is so sacred. I leave my phone out-
side the room and in ‘airplane mode’ (unless my teenager is not home)
and we spend peaceful uninterrupted time together which I adore

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● Car time with kids has become phone free time as well. This was actual-
ly harder than it should be!

● Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) really caused havoc with my ability
to connect, hense my in depth research into oxytocin. Recovery involves
increasing oxytocin production and there are many ways to do that.
Watch to my upcoming webinar “3 Secrets to Create Meopause Magic” to
get my gift “Top 10 Ways to Increase Oxytocin”. I’ll send you more info on
that soon.

It seems like my family is always moving a million miles a minute so these mo-
ments where we connect without distractions are my favorite times of the week.
I cherish them because they fill up my cup and allow me to feel appreciation in
the moment. Of course it’s easier when things are all rosy then when they are
raucousy.

Your Next Step: Get Your Menopause Report Card

You will spend roughly 1/3 of your life in post-menopause. You deserve to live

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it in comfort, good health and with a youthful confidence and connectedness to
your partner!
I want to share what’s possible for you as you progress with success during
this new stage of your life, but before I can do that you’ll need to know where
you are at right now.
The next step is for you to get your Menopause Report Card. By asking you
just 10 questions about your symptoms I can deliver your customized “grade”
and reveal your next steps for living the healthy, vibrant and connected life you
desire.
So watch your inbox for that link to my fun little quiz in the next few days!

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