Little Girl Blue
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Depression in the perimenopause and postmenopausal years is no joke. I’ve written about it several times on this blog and will continue to do so until experts figure out an effective, acceptable strategy for combating the blues.
As I’ve noted before, researchers are not quite sure of the exact reasons for the depression surge during the transition, (e.g. dramatic surge and declines in hormones, vasomotor issues, sleep issues, life stress and prior history). However, they do acknowledge that many women tend to suffer the blues during this time.
In the latest bit of research, published in the online edition of the journal Menopause, researchers found that over 40% of women studied (out of a pool of 685) suffered from symptoms of depression. What was more interesting, however, is that depression was almost twice as likely to develop in the peri/post menopausal stages than before menopause. (Note that other studies have found this likelihood to be as high as 4 times during the perimenopause). Moreover:
- Women who reported having had experienced some sort of negative event in their were 3.6 times likelier than those who hadn’t to develop depression
- Weight appeared to play a role, with obese women twice as likely as those of normal weight to develop depressive symptoms
Although I’ve discussed some potentially effective strategies for combatting the menopausal blues (e.g., exercise, chamomile, antidepressants, red clover, St. John’s Wort, soy isoflavones), none are a quick fix or a ‘one size fits all.’
Personally, I’ve noticed that fluctuating hormones coupled with elevated stress tends to heighten depression at specific times, while at other times, it’s easier to deal with. Pile it on and well, I become a pile of mush. My strategy entails an insane amount of physical activity, deep breathing, therapy and admittedly, some medication. Still, I’ve found that while I can usually keep the blues at bay, they do tend to crop up at the most inopportune moments.
What do you do to chase the blues away? Have they gotten worse or stayed the same during your transition? What advice do you have to offer for other readers? I’d love to hear!
Read MoreIt’s about time…weight, that is
Findings from a new study suggest that time of day may play a critical role in how much weight you do or do not gain. In fact, you may be better off eating fat first thing upon waking as opposed to at the end of the day.
Mind you, this study was conducted in mice and not humans, so it’s way too early to know for sure. However, what they found that was when mice were fed a high-fat diet constantly throughout a waking period, they did not gain substantial amounts of weight, body fat or develop unusually high blood sugar. In fact, they appeared to adjust their metabolism accordingly. However, when mice were fed either high fat or carbohydrate rich diets at different times during the day, the paradigm shifted and their bodies were not always able to adjust metabolically. Here’s the skinny:
- Mice who ate a calorically-rich, high-fat meal immediately following the four hours after waking were able to adjust their metabolism and the amount of energy they used up so that weight remained normal. However,
- Mice who ate a calorically-rich, high-carbohydrate meal in the first four hours after wakening and then a high-fat meal four hours before rest had gained excessive amounts of weight and body fat, had blood sugar abnormalities associated with diabetes, and had increased levels of fats in the blood. Ironically this occurred regardless of total daily calories or total calories from fat.
The researchers say there is plenty of evidence showing that people who skip breakfast tend to have higher a body-mass index (BMI), as do people who engage in night eating. They also note that like the mice in the study, our circadian clocks do play a huge role in both our appetite and how we expend calories during the course of a day. Although individuals tend to vary how and what they eat throughout any given day, there is a tendency to eat carbohydrates early in the day and higher fat or more calorie dense meals later. So, it’s possible by reversing this pattern, we may be able to affect how we respond to carbohydrate rich meals (and associated weight gain) later in the day.
Granted, only time can tell and it’s essential to repeat this study in human. Plus there’s another fact that women in particular need to be aware of: hormones and age play a critical role in controlling metabolism, and how, when and where we gain weight.
Right now, the best strategy is to eat healthy foods, unsaturated fats and exercise. But if you are craving bacon, you may want to have it in the morning and not in a BLT or wrapped around a scallop later in the day.
Read MoreGot fat? Soyrry but soy won’t help!
Novel research suggests that eating soy protein won’t affect overall body composition, even though there has been some past evidence that isoflavones in soy may help build muscle mass and break down fat. What’s the 4-11?
In this latest bit of data, 299 postmenopausal women with body-mass indices of around 25 (signifying “overweight”) too either placebo or soy isoflavone tablets for a year. The findings? Ingesting soy isoflavones had no significant effect on either body composition or on specific hormones that control appetite. The one factor that contributed to fat mass? The amount of total fat consumed.
Seems that the way to a more muscle mass is not through soy but rather, through a healthy diet and of course, exercise. Still, can we women ‘of a certain age’ get rid of the tire that’s forming around our middle? I’d love to hear how if you’ve got some ideas. Even my trainer admits that hormonal changes add to the roll and that it’s difficult to get rid of it completely.
Fortunately, the folks at Rush University Medical Center will be studying this midlife dilemma over the next five years. While they say that there’s no way to completely eliminate the tire, there are ways to minimize it. Stay tuned!
Read MoreStirring the pot: a conversation with author/chef Mollie Katzen on food, women and aging
Just about anyone who’s interested in cooking and whose formative years took place in the late 60s and 70s knows these names: Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen. Personally, both of these volumes occupied prominent places on my bookshelves for years. That is, until worn from overuse and stained with food and memories, I reluctantly let them go.
So, what do cooking and midlife and menopause have to do with each other? And what type of insights can chef and author Mollie Katzen lend to the conversation?
I originally approached Mollie in search of nutrition advice for women going through midlife and menopause. Although I realize that she isn’t a dietician or a nutritionist, as someone who’s immersed herself in food for decades, she seemed quite capable to lend a perspective. But as our conversation took hold and we found our rhythm, I realized that the focus had shifted: what I ended up with was a mini-instruction manual, not only for eating healthy but also for forming and maintaining positive relationships with food and with ourselves.
A champion of “keep it healthy,” Mollie entered the scene when cookbooks were largely geared towards the typical American meat and potato diet. When the Moosewood Cookbook first hit the shelves, “there was barely even a cookbook section in the bookstore, let alone, a ‘healthy eating’ or ‘vegetarian’ section,” explains Mollie. Yet, she is not what many of us classify as “vegetarian,” and although she primarily skews the dinner plate towards greens and veggies, she consistently includes small amounts of animal protein. “My diet in my 30s and 40s could have been classified as practically vegan,” she says, “even if I wasn’t orthodox about it.” (At that time, she was also keen on a low-fat diet, which, coupled with the lack of ample amounts of protein, spelled trouble.) “It was almost ‘remorse cuisine;’ I’d eat this way and by mid-afternoon I’d almost be fainting, depleted, irritable. I had no focus. I found that I wasn’t functioning and would wonder what was wrong with me because I thought I was eating the purest diet on the planet. I felt like I was falling apart.”
If you are familiar with the earlier editions of Mollie’s books, they concentrate heavily on whole grains and legumes. However, age has paved a path for a significant alteration in what she eats. Emphasizing that the amount of bulgar and beans she’d have to eat to obtain the amount of protein that she needs for her blood sugar to stay stable could easily translate into an extra 50 pounds, Mollie says that she has changed her diet to include grass-fed animal protein and raw milk cheese, milk and butter.
What about aging and diet? “I think that women get really frustrated,” she says, pointing out that as we age, even if we change nothing about our lifestyles, e.g., if our lifestyle is reasonable, we are of fairly normal weight, exercise moderately and eat pretty well, we still gain weight. “Our bodies become an inefficient machine and our metabolisms slow,” she says, adding that one of the most consistent things she’s observed amongst her friends is the “oh my god, what happened to my body” moment. The ‘I’m minding my business, doing the same things I’ve always done and all of a sudden, I’ve got this spare tire, I’ve got the fat” epiphany. Sound familiar?!
Although challenging, the answer to this common dilemma is fairly intuitive. And while we’d love to fool ourselves into believing that declining hormones are the primary culprits, they aren’t. Rather a decline in physical activity and lack of dietary restraint are the key players. Mollie agrees that while women can’t do a whole lot about the fat redistribution, the “one thing [they] need in order to keep the [weight gain] at bay is to keep muscles toned as possible with resistance exercise and also, eat less.” New flash! This actually works; Mollie reports that she currently weighs the same as she did in her 20’s!
Of course, what works for one woman might not be exactly what works for another. We all need to forge our dietary paths and strategies that work for both our individual metabolism and our bodies.
“Health is trial and error,” Mollie explains. “So much of it shows up in how you feel a few hours later. For example, do you feel sleepy after you’ve eaten? Do you feel sluggish or irritable later in the day? Do you have trouble sleeping at night? For me, these were all symptoms of what was going on when I was eating almost no fat or protein.” Much in line with health and nutrition experts, Molllie’s strategy has been to reduce her daily caloric intake while at the same time increasing the percent of calories in her diet that are fat. “I get a good 30% of my calories from nuts, olive oil, avocado and fatty fish.” And when she snacks, its the good fats that she reaches for: “avocados and nuts, especially walnuts. When I am hungry, I have a handful of almonds. I just think that for people as they get older, they should lose the pretzels and eat almonds or guacamole or something with good fat in it.”
We also need to slow down. Bet you’ve heard that before! Mollie says that the most radical transformation we can make with food isn’t so much changing what we eat but how we eat it. Her advice? “Don’t even pick up the fork for the first minute that the food is served. Breathe deeply, look at it, admire it, thank the cook, be grateful. Then pick up your fork, take a few bites and put your fork down. Swallow your food. Women simply don’t have the metabolic ability to do a good job with all that food.”
Food heals. As women, our love-hate relationship with food is complex. We not only use food as fuel, but also to feed our emotions. Or on the flipside, we deprive ourselves in ways that are counterintuitive and sometimes, downright unhealthy.
“This sounds so obvious,” says Mollie, “but I really want people to turn towards cooking and not away from it. To me, the more hands-on and proactive we are about food and cooking, the more we heal whatever issues or concepts we have around food. I’ve actually seen people healing their relationship with food by diving into it.” Make food one of your favorite hobbies. She suggests that rather instead of shunning away from the grocery store run, step back and make it a trip to pick up something beautiful to be celebrated. “Diving into a more positive, deliberate relationship with food gives you something nice to do,” she adds.
What are the take-away messages?
- Tailor it uniquely: keep it healthy.. for you.
- Move towards healthier choices and use food in a healing, more positive manner.
- Embrace yourself with beautiful food, whether it’s a perfect tomato from the Farmer’s Market or some kick-ass, green-as-grass guacamole.
- Take it slow, and breathe.
Wise words, from a wise woman who knows her way around a kitchen or two.
p.s. Mollie has shared two of her favorite recipes. Check them out, try them out and please, comment and show some love!
About Mollie:
Mollie Katzen, with over 6 million books in print, is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time. A 2007 inductee into the prestigious James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, and largely credited with moving healthful vegetarian food from the “fringe” to the center of the American dinner plate, Ms. Katzen has been named by Health Magazine as one of “The Five Women Who Changed the Way We Eat.”
In addition she is a charter member of the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Roundtable and an inaugural honoree of the Natural Health Hall of Fame. An award-winning illustrator and designer as well as best-selling cookbook author and popular public speaker, Mollie Katzen is best known as the creator of the groundbreaking classics Moosewood Cookbook, and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Her other books include the award-winning children’s cookbook trilogy, Pretend Soup,Honest Pretzels, and Salad People; Vegetable Heaven (winner of the International Cookbook Reveu Best in Category award); Sunlight Café; Eat, Drink, & Weigh Less (with Walter Willett, MD of Harvard), and the best-selling The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without.
Read MoreA is for adiposity, F is for falls, M is for muscle weakness. Together, they spell “D”
Wonder what I’m talking about yet? A newly published study in the advanced online edition of the journal menopause suggests that Vitamin D is a critical element for maintaining physical fitness during the postmenopause years.
In this study, researchers evaluated the following factors in 242 postmenopausal women that could account for overall physical fitness:
- age
- years since menopause
- weight
- blood levels of vitamin D
- daily energy expenditure
- calcium intake
- overall body composition
- waist and hip fat
The findings? Although there were many factors contributing to overall physical fitness, vitamin D was a common variable, contributing to fat mass, lean mass, balance, and handgrip strength. Hence, obtaining and maintaining adequate vitamin D appears to be important to staying lean, decreasing the risk of falls due to balance and maintaining muscle strength.
The Institute of Medicine currently recommends that women under the age of 50 obtain at least 200 IUs Vitamin D daily, and women over the age of 50, at least 400 IUs. Although a consensus has yet to be reached, many experts say that the majority of people can obtain adequate levels of vitamin D through about 5-30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back — preferably without sunscreen. Of course, this goes against common sense and skin cancer warnings and people who are especially prone to or have a skin cancer risk might want to consider obtaining their Vitamin D through daily supplements.
Regardless, it’s interesting to learn that researchers have unveiled yet another essential role for Vitamin D in our lives. Fitness is important to many aspects of aging — not just to maintain physical health — but also to promote healthier emotional well-being.
Be sure that you are paying attention to D. When it comes to postmenopause, D is for definite.
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