I'm Too Young for This!: The Natural Hormone Solution to Enjoy Perimenopause (13 page)

Supplements need to be determined by your deficiencies. This is done through blood work ordered by a qualified doctor or nutritionist. These experts can work out a supplementation regimen tailored just for you. Our soil and plants no longer have the sufficient nutrients so supplementation in today’s world is crucial. Most perimenopausal women need to supplement iodine, calcium, magnesium, and omega-3 fish oil, which we have discussed. In addition, you may try the following:

This amino acid supplement is naturally produced by the liver and the kidneys, and helps the body turn fat into energy. For perimenopausal women this can be an important helper in combating the weight gain that accompanies this passage. When your muscles have enough ALCAR, they can easily burn fat or protein, and not just glucose, for energy. This sufficiency delays muscle fatigue, decreases lactic acid, and increases testosterone production (which boosts muscle and bone mass, as well as sex drive and mood).

But the benefits for the brain are the most exciting consequence of ALCAR. It is effective at passing the blood-brain barrier, which plays a role in producing acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter vital to the proper functioning of the brain and entire nervous system. With toxins attacking our brains in today’s world, and brain cancers on the rise with younger and younger people, protecting your brain needs to be at the top of your list. When you are in your thirties and forties, brain damage seems to be something reserved for the very old. Again I say my peers—who are in various stages of brain damage, brain cancers, dementia, Alzheimer’s, and find themselves sitting in nursing homes—likely never gave protecting their brains a thought. ALCAR is also essential for the mitochondria, which are the energy center of our cells. It allows for oxygen to reach your brain; if you get no oxygen to your brain, it stops functioning. Be smart. ALCAR is a small thing to take every day that may produce big results.

Anthocyandins are the red-blue pigments that give many plants their color. Berries are potent antioxidants. As mentioned earlier, antioxidants “eat” free radicals (toxins). Berries and the extracts
derived from them, including resveratrol, promote heart health and protect cells from the mutation-inducing effects of toxic food preservatives. Since it’s difficult to avoid food with preservatives, even for the health conscious, you see why this supplement is a necessary piece of your arsenal. You would have to eat a bushel basket of berries every day to get the dosage recommended by experts available in one daily supplement. Try Enhanced Berry Complete with RZD Acai from
www.lef.org
.

The mineral boron raises estrogen and testosterone in pre-, peri-, and postmenopausal women. At the same time, it supports bone health in combination with calcium (women experience greater bone loss and do not absorb calcium as well as they age). Sufficient calcium intake from food can slow the rate of bone loss.

Women of childbearing age whose menstrual periods stop because they exercise heavily, eat too little, or both need sufficient calcium to cope with the resulting decreased calcium absorption, increased calcium losses in the urine, slowdown in the formation of new bone, and magnesium loss. Magnesium protects against brain damage and free-radical damage, and it provides protection against toxicity. Calcium should always be taken with magnesium.

Every cell in the body needs CoQ
₁₀
. It activates the mitochondria, the energy center of your cells. Without sufficient CoQ
₁₀
you will lose vitality and energy and your aging will accelerate. Ubiquinol CoQ
₁₀
is the best form to take.

Fish oil may be the most important supplement you can take. The body requires a constant intake of essential fatty acids, or EFAs (they are called essential because they are indeed that important to life). Every cell is dependent on EFAs and they get burned up (oxidized) from everyday living. The more stress you are under, especially physical stress like exercise and dieting, the more aggressive you need to be about your EFAs and this great source of them, fish oil. Fish oil reduces inflammation as it circulates through the bloodstream. Since your blood is everywhere in your body, the anti-inflammatory effects of fish oil are far-reaching.

Fish oil, because of its omega-3 fatty acids specifically, has been used to treat depression and other mood disorders, as well as attention deficit disorder (ADD) and even bipolar issues. For perimenopausal women combating moodiness and depression, fish oil can go a long way to rectify these symptoms. It’s hard to obtain consistent potencies of omega-3s by eating fish. So eating fish, sadly, is no longer the optimum source for EFAs due to mercury content, PCBs, and potential heavy metal contamination. Look for fish oil supplements that are 5-star IFOS (International Fish Oil Standards). If you are on daily aspirin or a blood thinner, please discuss first with your physician.

Glutathione is the body’s master antioxidant. NAC is rapidly metabolized in the body where it becomes a precursor to intercellular glutathione. Numerous studies have shown its power. It can improve heart function, blood sugar numbers in diabetics, and
response to exercise. It is also excellent for detoxifying the intestinal tract, one of the premier residences for toxins, molds, and candida. Unfortunately, we stop manufacturing most glutathione around age thirty-five, so now we are left without this key defense against the greatest environmental assault of toxicity in the history of humankind. Our livers are groaning from trying to process toxins and poisons the body was never meant to handle. Just our morning ritual (showering, bathing, brushing teeth, using cosmetics) exposes the average person to over two hundred different toxins. In addition, we are exposed to over eighty thousand different toxins on a regular basis through sources such as these: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fluoride (a known carcinogen) and chlorine (another known carcinogen) in our pools, the cleaning products we use to “sanitize” our homes, the air fresheners, the plastic water bottles emitting bisphenol As, dishwashing detergents, insect repellents, and other chemicals.

The need for protective supplements is great. If you want to achieve balance hormonally, you must take into account that the environment is working against you, not with you, so taking powerful antioxidant supplements will provide a lot of protection. Different antioxidants eat different free radicals, so taking a full course of antioxidants is advised. (That’s why this list includes many different forms of antioxidant protection.)

Vitamin D/D
₃
is a hormone. Let me explain what I mean by that. Early man (Paleolithic) walked naked in the sun taking in sufficient amounts of vitamin D the way nature had planned as the delivery system to keep the human body healthy. When sunlight strikes your skin, it passes through your liver and it is turned into 25-hydroxyvitamin D (this is what doctors measure to determine your vitamin D level). The kidneys then get into the action,
supplying a small chemical adjustment that creates the active version of vitamin D. The active version of vitamin D is actually the hormone calcitriol, also known as vitamin D. Calcitriol is very powerful; it controls calcium and phosphorus absorption, bone metabolism, and neuromuscular function.

It is a hugely important supplement you should consider taking as soon as your doctor green-lights it. Vitamin D is essential to all the important systems in your body:

Vitamin D is associated with bone health because it helps your digestive system to absorb calcium and phosphorus, so a vitamin D deficiency is associated with osteoporosis and hip fractures. I realize you are only in perimenopause and you aren’t worried about your bones, but think about this; neither were the older women of today whose bones are sometimes so weak they can’t hold them up. Add to that hearts that are failing, brains that aren’t firing, and bodies that are hormonally depleted. What we are talking about here is preventive medicine. Taking vitamin D
₃
today could offset terrible health events later in your life. It’s just smart to protect yourself.

Dozens of new studies have found that vitamin D
₃
affects human health in much more profound ways than was ever imagined. It is now well established that the active form of vitamin D
₃
acts as an effective regulator of cell growth and differentiation in a number of different cell types, including cancer cells. Vitamin D
₃
protects us from the four most common cancers: breast, prostate, colon, and skin. If you are not taking a vitamin D
₃
supplement
or drinking a lot of milk fortified with vitamin D
₃
, or unless you can consciously lie naked in the sun for a minimum of twenty minutes daily (both sides), then you should seriously consider vitamin D replacement. Vitamin D is a hormone, so in turn it communicates with all the other hormones and is part of the hormonal song. As you are beginning to decline in other hormones at this passage, vitamin D is another of those that have gone missing and likely needs replacing.

Still not convinced it’s worth giving up the junk and choosing better foods and nutrition for yourself? Understand that a poor diet leads to a body low or missing in minerals and needed nutrients, a body that just will not operate properly. With perimenopause already playing havoc with your body’s balance and throwing everything off, it is vital to take diet and supplementation seriously. If not, serious conditions can result, including one of the most common complaints of this transition: depression. Understanding which nutrients you need to replace to combat depression will clear the way so you can have an easier time with perimenopause. So many women complain of depression during perimenopause. But did you know that not just hormonal decline can cause it? An imbalance of zinc and copper can also affect your mood states. If you are estrogen dominant, these two minerals may be significant factors, even though our bodies only need small amounts. The
balance
of these two minerals is key because they are cofactors for important enzymes that affect our mood.

Copper and zinc are involved in the function of the brain’s cells. They are very important in the brain’s regulation of mood, as well as its reaction to stress.

Researchers have noted that there’s an association between high copper levels and low zinc levels during PMS. This copper and zinc imbalance can lead to depression. Excess estrogen raises the level of a copper-binding protein called ceruloplasmin in the bloodstream, which can also bind to copper and prevent it from getting into the brain cells where it is needed for proper enzyme function (
see
Clemente
). The cellular levels of these minerals are controlled by the cell membrane. A healthy cell membrane allows just the right amounts of potassium, magnesium, copper, and zinc to be kept within the cell, while at the same time keeping the sodium out that would result in cell swelling. Progestins (pharmaceutical progesterone-like chemicals) impair this action of the cell membrane, whereas natural progesterone restores proper function of it.

You know now that a deficiency of zinc combined with excess copper can lead to severe mood disturbances and imbalances. If you are plagued by chronic depression, have your blood tested for these minerals. If you have imbalances of copper and zinc, balancing these levels will set things right in your brain and thus help you avoid the pitfall of so many women who become addicted to antidepressants. A qualified doctor will understand the need for blood testing to look for any deficiencies in your body. If you want your body to operate at max, it requires constant detective work to analyze what needs replacing.

Whenever you can get these missing minerals and vitamins from food it is always best. Foods that contain high levels of zinc include shellfish, as stated earlier, and the lean muscle tissues, or tenderloin, of beef, deer, or lamb. Every 4 ounces of beef tenderloin contains about 5 mg of zinc. Tenderloin can be easily added to meals and snacks. Zinc can also be found in pumpkin and sesame seeds, containing 2.5 mg and 2.8 mg of zinc per 1/4 cup, respectively. Sesame seeds can easily be added to yogurt or baked
goods. Pumpkin seeds can be purchased from any health food store or harvested from a pumpkin and toasted.

Avoid raw, unprocessed soy products as they contain high levels of phytates that directly block the absorption of zinc. Fermented soy products, soy protein isolate, and soy isoflavones do not contain high levels of phytates. It’s important to look for non-GMO soy products.