In native cultures menopause tends to be a cause for quiet celebration, a time when a woman has completed her childbearing years and is moving into a deeper level of self-discovery and spiritual awareness.She is becoming a wise old woman.
In these cultures menopausal women are looked up to and revered. They are sought out for advice and their opinions are heavily weighted in the decision-making process of the community.
How strange that sounds to us!
In our culture menopause is seen as the end of a woman’s sexuality, a descent into a dried-up and painful old age of arthritis and osteoporosis. It is the stage of our life thatis accepted without reason as a time of hot flashes, mood swings and pain.
How did this experience of menopause come to be?
I am not sure when this shift took place. Certainly our grandmother’s grandmothers did not expect their elder years to be full of pain and suffering. They experienced their late years with reverence like the women of native cultures.
Let’s explore several factors that may be contributing to this experience…
What we eat… Estrogen is a growth hormone in the meat and dairy we consume today. Farmers feed animals estrogen so they Grow more quickly, then they have a higher value to sell.
What they ate… Hormone free, free ranged animals that were minimally processed (probably with real salt). They ate fresh fruits and vegetables that they grew naturally on family farms.
How we manage our hormones… Now more than ever we are seeing young girls and women using hormone therapy. We use synthetic hormones, birth control, and hormone replacement therapy.
Their management of hormones… They didn’t experience the detriments of the menopause of today, their hormones weren’t off centered. Most likely they were consuming foods and herbs that nurtured their hormone chemistry. They, also, used extended breastfeeding as a means to birth control.
Through our lifestyles… American women lead the world in stress levels. Today we experience more societal expectations than ever before while placing pressure onto ourselves. Many women today are stressed out while trying to balance family and career. When we experience stress, our adrenal glands kick into overdrive and trigger cortisol—our bodies use progesterone to make the cortisol. Most women by age 35 either no longer have progesterone or have really low levels. Stress is not healthy!
Their lifestyles… Our distant ancestors wore their children as they foraged for food integrating work and home life together. Our grandmothers worked in the family home, while the men harvested the farms. We didn’t have the pressures of today’s society pushing mothers out of the home to make ends meet.
Over exposure to Petra-chemicals… Because we live in the society we live in we are constantly exposed to petra-chemicals which bind to the estrogen receptor. Petra-chemicals are considered false estrogen; fungicides, herbicides, fertilizers, pesticides, cleansers, dry cleaning chemicals, plastics, mineral oil… These chemicals are everywhere—this is not good. These chemicals are stored in fat tissue. (American women lead in the whole world (1 in 7) in breast cancer.)
Their use of petra-chemicals… Most petra-chemicals were created in the advent of industrialization. Our ancestors used natural means to harvest their foods, to cleanse their clothes, and cook their meals.
I suggest that some of the answers to our hormonal and menopausal woes are in the manner in which we live, eat and work. For more information on natural hormone balance check these resources out:
1. http://www.hormonebalance.org/
2. http://www.johnleemd.com/
3. http://www.salivatest.com/
4. A book titled Menopause and the Mind explains how people need progesterone more than any anti-depressant drug. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684854791/sr=1-1/qid=1156307044/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0399367-7450367?ie=UTF8&s=books
5. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause: Balance Your Hormones and Your Life From Thirty to Fifty. Dr. John R. Lee, M.D., et al
6. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause: The Breakthrough Book on Natural Progesterone. Dr. John R. Lee, M.D., Virginia Hopkins
7. The Estrogen Alternative: Natural Hormone Therapy with Botanical Progesterone. Raquel Martin with Judi Gerstung, D.C
8. Hormone Heresy - What Women MUST Know About Their Hormones. Sherill Sellman
9. Prescription for Nutritional Healing. Phyllis Balch, CNC and James Balch, MD
10. Natural Progesterone Cream: Safe and Natural Hormone Replacement. C. Noramn Shealy, MD, PhD
11. Hormone Balance: A Matter of Life and Health. Kristine B. Klitzke, RN, BSN
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