Female in Your 40s or 50s?

Don’t let ANYONE tell you these are the “normal” signs of aging! Now is the time to reclaim your life!

• Thinning hair?
• Tired all the time, and tired of being tired?
• Lost your libido?
• Weight creeping up more than you’d like,
  especially on your belly?
• Feel a little foggy?
• Too tired to exercise?
• Pains in your joints?

In a culture that worships at the altar of youth, what can a woman expect once she reaches her forties and fifties? Is it true that aging means gaining weight, lost libido, thinning hair, and increasing aches, pains and physical woes? Absolutely not! This can be a wonderful time of life, if women learn to take care of themselves as well as they’ve taken care of everyone else in the decades before.

Overworked, overwhelmed, overtired, over-committed, this can be the time when it all starts to unravel. The worst part is the authoritative voices, in doctors’ offices, in the news, on tv and in the movies, suggesting that this is how it’s supposed to be. It almost seems like we’re expected to just roll downhill from here. NOW is the time to reclaim your fabulous, vibrant, sexy, successful, fulfilling life!

Being this age does not have to mean a slow inevitable deterioration with increasing debilitating symptoms. And it certainly doesn’t mean the end of our sensuality or sexuality. It can be a time of great vitality, growth and new freedom. These are the years when lifestyle choices really pay out: the great ones and the not-so-good ones. It’s the time to make the changes that determine the quality of your life for the decades ahead. Decide what you want to change, educate yourself about the options, and get support. Don’t accept conventional wisdom about what can and can’t heal. Much more is possible than you think.

The most important issues at this age are healing the metabolism and balancing hormones. What worked in your 20s, when your body was still geared toward growth and reproduction, no longer works. Women who have been on and off diets and up and down the scale for a couple of decades are almost always insulin resistant. Many also have burned out their adrenals from a combination of chronic stress, too much caffeine and too little sleep. The good news is that we are incredibly resilient: all of this can be healed. To get help right now, either click on the Book Now button to the right and let’s get started.

I Can’t Lose Weight!
Women at this age often complain that they don’t eat much but seem to gain weight anyhow, and losing weight seems impossible. If that’s your experience, you are not wrong, but you probably have a damaged metabolism. Healing your metabolism involves identifying and eliminating food sensitivities; balancing protein, carbs and fat every time you eat, according to your current state; reducing your toxic load, including nicotine, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, refined sugars, and caffeine. And don’t depend on soy for protein. Soy suppresses the thyroid, causing further havoc with your hormones. By making consistently good choices you can heal your metabolism and become a more efficient fat-burner. We don’t get healthy by losing weight – we lose weight by getting healthy.

My Hormones Are Out of Whack!
Somewhere in their forties or fifties almost all women start to experience hormonal changes signaling the end of the reproductive years. Hormonal changes are responsible for many symptoms we associate with aging, including dryness, loss of flexibility, aching joints, thinning hair and plummeting libido. Instead of trying to replace estrogen directly, it’s better to lower cortisol, which is always in inverse relationship to estrogen (as testosterone is, for men). Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glad in response to stress, and stress hormones take precedence over all other hormones, so if you are stressed, your calming and reproductive hormones drop. Lowering cortisol helps bring all your hormones back into alignment. You can do that by: getting more sleep, reducing caffeine, practicing stress management, and taking Phosphatidyl Serine, a naturally occurring phospholipid, which reduces the cortisol response. PS also improves cognitive function and has been shown to reduce age related declines in memory, including name recall. It also helps you lose belly fat. Therapeutic doses of Vitamin C help repair the adrenals and lower cortisol levels. There are so many nutritional changes and supplements you can use that will support your healing in this process. I can help you find the right ones from the hundreds that are available, and make sure you get the quality and dosage of supplement that will actually work for you.

Sleep It Off
Want to look and feel younger, lose weight, have more energy, improve your immune system and your heart health? Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night! It’s a myth that you need less sleep as you age. Sleep is the precious time when our body does repair and rebuilding. It’s also the time we stop producing cortisol, so sleep contributes to hormonal balance as well. I have so many different kinds of tools to help with this, depending on what is causing the disruption in the first place, but trust me, you can reclaim a solid night’s sleep, and it will make all the difference in the world.

Turn Yourself Upside Down
Hot flashes? Night sweats? One of the best things you can do is inversions. There are many reasons to do yoga during these years, but headstands and shoulder stands are truly stellar. Start with 10 breaths, and work up to a count of 100. Don’t do these without warming up first, and if you’ve never done them, you’ll want to find an experienced yoga instructor to help you. In the meantime, you can lie on the floor with your legs vertical, against a wall, and small pillow under your lower back.

Find Your Still Point
Mind-body techniques such as visualization and meditation help us find the calm in the center of the storm. Meditation doesn’t have to mean sitting in unmoving full lotus for an hour, nor does it mean not having any thoughts. There are many forms of meditation and you are bound to find one that suits you if you shop around. Many places, including my office, offer free classes, so compare styles and formats. And you can take a mini-vacation any time by simply taking a few deep breaths while thinking of something pleasurable, somewhere beautiful, or someone you love. To hear two examples of meditation that I teach and practice, click here. Or join my Zen Vitality Detox Course online, where meditation is just one of the many tools I offer over 5 weeks, to reclaim your health, vitality and well-being.

Exercise Smarter, Not Harder
As we age, extended cardio is less effective for losing weight and maintaining health. You can lose more fat, support hormonal balance and increase energy by doing exercise “bursts.” Go all out for one minute and then let your heart rate return to normal. Repeat 3-8 times, 3 times a week, and you will produce more human growth hormone and testosterone, keys to lean muscle, and helpful for improved energy and libido. To get the best results , at home, in 15 minutes 3x a week, with no equipment necessary, try my favorite workouts. (warning: the sales page is cheesy but the program is stellar!)

Make a Commitment to Yourself
Your forties, fifties and beyond can be a time of vibrant physical health, healthy sexuality and sensuality, and pleasure and delight in a full and active life. It all begins with making decisions that support you in thriving in your own wonderful life, and following through with them day by day. Ready to start now? Let me help you with an individualized program to heal your metabolism and rebalance your hormones. Trust me: you don’t even know how much better you can feel!