Your Middle Years - Love Them. Live Them. Own Them.: A Book for the Menopause and Beyond

by Paula Mee, Kate O'Brien

Overview

Don't fear your middle years – embrace them feeling STRONG, VIBRANT and in CONTROL OF YOUR DESTINY!Authors PAULA MEE and KATE O'BRIEN had a lot of questions when they reached the menopause. While doctors were matter-of-fact and friends had light-hearted conversations about the changes occurring in their bodies, there was no road map for what can, if you're unprepared, be a turbulent transition. Your Middle Years provides just that.Combining the authors' joint expertise, it shows that midlife and the menopause years are NOT a stumbling block but an opportunity to embrace maturity, feeling energised, refreshed and ready to take on the next phase of your life with gusto.With advice on diet, beauty, sex, sleep, emotional health and more, Your Middle Years will empower you before, during and after the menopause, helping you to anticipate and manage the changes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780717169733
Publisher:	Gill Books
Publication date:	03/04/2016
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Paula Mee is a current member and a past president of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, the professional body for dietitians in Ireland. Through her consultancy work, Paula provides an extensive range of nutrition and dietetic services to individuals, corporates, educational institutions and the foods industry. She is a regular contributor to Irish media (the Irish Times Health Supplement, RTÉ Radio 1) on nutrition matters. She was the consultant dietitian on the production team of TV3 series Doctor in the House and the dietitian on RTÉ series Health Squad.
Kate O’Brien returned to Ireland in 2013 after 18 years living and working in Asia. Through her career, Kate has enjoyed many years in the health, beauty and spa industries in London, Dublin, Singapore and Hong Kong, and has become an established writer on lifestyle and spa culture. Kate writes for Asia Spa magazine, The Gloss and Image magazine. She is the author of six lifestyle books.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 3. Weight

Don’t put anything else into your mouth, like your projects, your worries, your fear, just put the food in.
Thich Nhat Hahn, Buddhist monk

We all find managing our weight more difficult after our 20s. We have so many opportunities to eat and so few to be active, and if we don’t really work at it, the weight tends to creep up as we get older and become less active. This happens regardless of our gender. Energy balance is difficult, full stop! And the landscape around us verifies that, with the majority of people in developed countries classified as either overweight or obese.

Women over 40 face some additional challenges. We might have pretty much sailed through our 30s and early 40s with only the need for a bit of tweaking to our calorie intake or exercise regime. Nothing we couldn’t handle – that is, until our late 40s, when it all seems to go to pot. Menopot, that is! The waist seems to be a magnet for new fat deposits that are stubborn to shift.

IS WEIGHT GAIN INEXTRICABLY LINKED TO MENOPAUSE?
There’s no doubt that many women complain about weight gain at this time. But the causes are many and it would be wrong to blame all weight gain on the menopause transition. It’s important to take time to reflect on the bigger picture and how this impacts your individual body weight. We are all different.

TRY THIS
Write down the reasons for your weight gain. These may include:

• Increased levels of stress and anxious nibbling
• Hot flushes, sleep deprivation and decreased energy levels
• Decreased activity or exercise
• A sluggish thyroid and slowing metabolism
• Side effects of medication
• Declining and worsening eating habits
• Quitting smoking.

If you need help deciphering what you need to focus on, keep a food, mood and activity diary for a few weeks and then book a consultation with a qualified dietitian or your doctor. Together you can work through some of the issues and develop strategies to address them.

For some women, hormonal fluctuations will play havoc with their waistline. But for the majority of us, it’s a combination of fluctuating hormones and our age and lifestyle. Focusing solely on hormones leaves us with few options and little hope. Taking a wider approach allows us to make small but significant changes across the board to adjust our weight.