OUTSMARTING 

                           THE

                 MIDLIFE FAT CELL

                                               by Debra Waterhouse

 

                                                               

 

Waterhouse has a couple of degrees.  One of them is RD, or Registered Dietician.  The main premise of the book is this:  Menopause is not an illness, is it a process of transition and should not be medicated against (I agree).  She also states that women in their midlife years have abdominal fat cells that secrete estrogen as a supplement to the decreasing estrogen supply from failing ovaries.  As a woman ages, the abdominal fat cells begin to enlarge and sometimes even multiply to help provide this estrogen. (the amount secreted must be miniscule, though, if it takes 30,000,000 fat cells, since none of the symptoms of menopause are alleviated or counteracted by the naturally-produced estrogen.)

  This book was ok.  There were some things in there I had never known before, like the fact that women's fat cells begin to secrete estrogen in midlife. (If this is the case, why are so many of us taking Premarin or other junk of its ilk??) 

It was also written in what I thought was a rather condescending, simplistic tone.  The first part, especially, seemed to "talk down" to the reader.  It appeared that she missed the point about low-carbohydrate eating, and dismissed it without exploring the many symptoms of what I call "insulin poisoning" for want of a better term.   

On the plus side, she pointed out the fact that our mothers and grandmothers had very little trouble making it through menopause compared to what the '90's kind of girl is going through, and although there were several things that might cause this, the main thing was that almost every single woman in America has dieted more than once, most have dieted continually since puberty.  This dieting is almost always low-fat, which deprives the body of the essential building blocks for proper hormone secretion and development.

One thing crossed my mind as I was reading it, though, and that is this:  This is apparently not new news.  If it is old news, then, how come nobody else is mentioning it in their own books?  (Just asking...)

Good stuff I gleaned:

...DIETING MAKES YOU FAT.  I knew this, but it's always good to remind myself, just in case I start obsessing on the "losing weight" part of getting healthy.

...MENOPAUSE/PERIMENOPAUSE transition triggers fat accumulation, whether we diet or exercise, or not.  Her reasoning is this:  Around the age of 35, women's fat cells begin to shift into "conserve at all costs" mode in order to be able to provide estrogen after the ovaries shut down around age 55.

...EXERCISE, according to Waterhouse, is the only thing that will remove that abdominal fat.  I tend not to agree here, as I have personal evidence that a lowered carbohydrate intake also shrinks fat cells.  Exercise really doesn't "burn fat." It steps up the metabolism for about an hour. In order to "burn enough fat" to make a difference, you would have to spend 8 to 10 hours a day at exercise, which Americans just don't do any more, since we have so many modern conveniences and so much leisure time.   Also, there is not much that can be done to stop the process.  It is part of the transition from childbearing years to maturity.  The important thing is to concentrate on getting as healthy as possible.  Hmmm....sounds kind of familiar...

...UNDEREATING CAUSES OVEREATING  ("dieting makes you fat")  This triggers the "famine" response and causes the conservation of energy phenomenon mentioned elsewhere on this webpage.

...SEROTONIN depletion causes feelings of stress and depression, and Waterhouse recommends...CHOCOLATE!!  (Told you there was good news here!) Actually, until the last year or so, I have never craved chocolate, but since about this time last year, I find myself keeping it stashed in little places here and there...

...ENDORPHIN depletion causes moodiness and fatigue.  She recommends good fats here to stimulate their production, and seems to know the difference between good fats and hydrogenated, adulterated fats and oils.

...DOPAMINE depletion causes an inability to concentrate or remember things.  Waterhouse says to eat protein here.

Every one of these things is discarded on a low-calorie, low-fat diet.  She does not recommend a vegetarian diet for women  past 35 years of age. (I don't recommend it for anybody of any age.  Too many essential nutrients are found only in meat and animal foods.)

She also recommends that women drink enough water every day to make their urine pale in color.  I know that most women of years ago drank little or no water for, believe it or not, social reasons:  They were afraid to drink much for fear they would have to make trips to the bathroom, which was a social no-no.  I have personal experience of older women who are literally dying of thirst because they only get a cup of coffee in the morning, one with lunch, one with supper, and a small glass of juice with their medications two or three times a day.  Not one of these women is in good health.

She listed a few herbs that will make the transition easier, that I have used occasionally, and just never stayed with.  For instance, she recommends St. John's wort** for stimulating the production of serotonin, and dong quai and chasteberry for other symptoms.  She mentioned black cohosh, but I hesitate to recommend it because it can give some people excruciating headaches.  But it is useful for some menopausal symptoms if you can take it.  She also recommended sulphur, which is MSM, or methylsulphonylmethane, and one of my standbys.  I seldom let a day pass without it.

Hope this information will help us all understand a little more about what's going on with our crazy bodies.  If you want to order the book and read it for yourself, it's available at amazon.com.

** Recent information indicates that St. John's Wort is much more EFFECTIVE than previously thought.  Because of this, I am very hesitant to recommend it to anyone. Please be VERY CAREFUL if you take this herb, and do not eat cheese while taking it.  It drives the blood pressure very high.

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