photo taken from smartlifetips.com

There will come a time in a woman’s life usually between the ages forty-five to fifty-five that menopause will happen. This is a natural process that every woman undergoes and it should never be feared. The only thing that women are probably afraid about when it comes to menopause is the inevitable menopause weight gain.

Menopause and weight gain tend to go together. This is probably due to the hormonal changes occurring in the body that makes it difficult to overcome. This is a natural body function, but there are ways to prevent and control this. Although, studies show that weight gain is due more to lifestyle than hormonal changes occurring during menopause. So curbing that craving for fatty foods and eradicating that sedentary lifestyle among others can fight menopause weight gain.

There are many ways to prevent menopausal weight gain but specifically there are three approaches: lifestyle changes, alternative medicine, and drugs & surgery. It is important to start with least risky approach first and if all else fails there is always the medical management approach which is surgery.

Lifestyle Changes

This is probably the hardest approach since it involves sound of mind, patience and diligence. But the good thing about this is that it doesn’t involve any risks. The physical culprit in menopausal weight gain is stress and there are many ways to fight stress. Stress reduction exercises such as yoga can be helpful, eating estrogenic rich foods such as soy, apples, cherries, potatoes, rice, wheat and yams can increase the estrogen levels in the body that controls weight gain.

Alternative Medicines

There are various alternative medicines available in the market to prevent menopausal weight gain. Menopause diet pills, herbal medicines, supplements and Acupuncture are the best alternative treatments. These are less complicated and mostly the approach chosen by women.

Drugs and Surgery

This approach involves the highest risk as well as the highest cost. The most common drug therapy for treating menopause weight gain is Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT. This is absolutely the most effective and quickest mode of treatment but unfortunately due to its serious side effects, studies show that this increases the risk for cancer among women.
These approaches are available at your convenience but more and more women nowadays believe that best way to deal with weight gain during menopause is a combination of healthy lifestyle and alternative treatments.

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