Geneva1

Ladies,

I've discussed this on several posts, and thought I should start it as a new topic, share what I've learned, and how it can affect perimenopause symptoms.

SYNDROME X (or insulin resistance) is a disease caused by eating the wrong foods. If the name doesn't ring a bell, the symptoms might: Feeling tired after you eat, and at other times when you shouldn't. Gaining a pound here and a pound there, and having difficulty losing them. Seeing your blood pressure creep up year after year, and finding that your cholesterol does the same. I have it, and actually, we all have to some extent. It is all about keeping our blood sugar stable, which in turn will help balance your hormones. If we can keep it somewhat stable, we reduce our risk of high cholesterol, adult onset diabetes, obesity, & coronary heart disease. Doctors have known about insulin resistance for decades, but only in the past 10 years have they gained a clearer idea of exactly how it derails your health.

Insulin resistance is caused in large part by the over-consumption of refined carbohydrates, such as breads, pastas, and sugary foods. Eating too much saturated fat (found in beef) and omega-6 fatty acids (found in vegetable oils) and trans-fatty acids (found in margarine and foods with partially hydrogenated oils) also seems to increase the risk of insulin resistance.
Normally, after you eat a meal, your body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose, or blood sugar. The presence of glucose prompts the release of insulin, a hormone produced in your pancreas. Insulin helps transport glucose from the blood to cells, where's it's burned for energy or stored. When a person eats a lot of refined carbohydrates year after year, a dangerous cascade occurs. Insulin levels remain chronically high, and cells become less responsive-and resistant-to insulin. As a consequence, relatively little glucose gets burned and levels remain high. With chronically elevated glucose levels, insulin resistance evolves into diabetes. It's a disease, surprisingly enough, caused by your body's inability to make the most of the food you eat. And as many as one in three people suffer from it.

The GLYCEMIC INDEX (GI) is a list of foods that are catagorized in the low (good carbs), moderate (ok), or high (bad fat storing carbs). The ZONE DIET follows the GI, showing you how to eat the right combination of 30% fat, 30% protein, and 40% carbs.

My Nutritionist told me that eating this way and taking the right supplements would greatly reduce my hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety & weight gain. The first 2 weeks, I didn't notice any difference at all. The third week, my hot flashes went from one every hour to one or two a day. My night sweats have completely stopped. I feel much better, have lots more energy, and my weight has started to drop. I take no medication other than vitamins. It's not difficult to do, and I have eaten foods several times that I'm not supposed to eat (potatoes, birthday cake, etc.) What I have found out, is that it's ok to eat something off of it, as long as you eat your next meal back in the zone (low GI). It is working for me, and it might be of interest to some of you that are also fighting the perimenopause symptoms.


Geneva