Weight Gain Before Menopause 

Weight gain after the age of 35 is a common story. All of a sudden, fat begins to collect on the hips and belly and no matter how hard the woman diets or exercises she just can't seem to get rid of the weight. She may have your cravings and binge on food as well. What is going on here? Before the age of 35, she seemed to be fine. Fat on the belly hips was not her problem.

But now, it seems that dieting and exercise just can't seem to get rid of the extra weight.

The answer is that there is an underlying hormonal problem.

Before the age of 35, the ovary begins to produce a follicle during the first part of the menstrual cycle. The budding follicle produces estradiol. The follicle is like a pimple. At day 14, the follicle pops out an egg. The used follicle becomes the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum produces progesterone. Thus, the menstrual cycle begins with estradiol and at day 14 the estradiol peaks. Then, the corpus luteum begins to pump out progesterone. And the latter half of the menstrual cycle is dominated by progesterone.

After the age of 35, for most cycles but not all cycles the woman is not producing any progesterone or a very small amount of progesterone. This is known as an anovulatory cycle. An anovulatory cycle is a menstrual cycle where are the ovary does not ovulate. The follicle comes up and produces estradiol. Then, the follicle like a pimple does not pop. No egg is released. The follicle simply goes back down. Since no egg is released, no corpus luteum is formed. No progesterone is produced. The ovary does not produce any progesterone because there is no corpus luteum after the age of 35 for most cycles but not all cycles.

Estradiol acts in one way, and progesterone acts in the opposite direction. So, progesterone and estradiol balance each other out.

Xenoestrogens in synergy with estradiol are usually balanced out with progesterone before the age of 35. However, after the age of 35, there is no progesterone to balance out the estradiol and xenoestrogens in synergy. Therefore, the woman becomes estrogen dominant. This question dominance means too much estrogen. If the woman just had estradiol alone this would be fine. However, the woman doesn't have estradiol alone she has estradiol with xenoestrogens, and this is disastrous.

Too much estradiol and xenoestrogens together cause a woman to be estrogen dominant. Estrogen says to build up fat for the pregnancy. As a result, the woman starts to have sugar cravings and food cravings and will binge on ice cream and sugar. This is a natural result of having too much estrogen. Fat on the belly and hips begins to grow. In addition, the thyroid receptor begins to become less sensitive to the thyroid hormone. The thyroid hormone levels are normal, but the body's sensitivity to the thyroid hormone has become smaller. Therefore, even though you have normal levels of thyroid hormone, your body is less sensitive to the thyroid hormone. It is like you are deaf to the thyroid hormone, and therefore, you become hypothyroid. Temperature is lower is 97° F. Hair becomes thinner. You become fatter. You feel sluggish. You conserve energy. You build up fat because the estrogen tells you to.

To fight the hormone problem is to avoid xenoestrogens and take them out of your environment and also take some progesterone.

It is important to take out the xenoestrogens out of your environment. If you have strong xenoestrogens in your environment, then taking progesterone will actually increase your weight gain. Progesterone will only help if you have eliminated all xenoestrogens out of your environment, or if you only have xenoestrogens that are weak xenoestrogens. So where are these xenoestrogens coming from?

It is important to take out the xenoestrogens out of your environment. If you have strong xenoestrogens in your environment, then taking progesterone will actually increase your weight gain. Progesterone will only help if you have eliminated all xenoestrogens out of your environment, or if you only have xenoestrogens that are weak xenoestrogens. So where are these xenoestrogens coming from?

Xenoestrogens

The key is to do the 20% effort if 80% effect. Where are most of the xenoestrogens that you are exposed to coming from? It turns out that anything that you put on the skin is 10 times in potency of the what you take by mouth. Just like nicotine patches and estrogen patches are absorbed through the skin, anything topical put on the skin is absorbed into the body. Furthermore, anything put on the skin goes directly into the body bypassing the liver. So, soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotions, lipstick, eye shadow, toothpaste, laundry detergent, fabric softener, and hair gel will go directly into the body and affect you. Unfortunately, many of these topicals have chemicals natural or synthetic that can mimic estrogen. In other words, these chemicals or herbs look like estrogen to the body. The body misinterprets these chemicals or herbs and thinks they are estrogen. These are called xenoestrogens. Your own natural estradiol in combination with the xenoestrogens convinces your body to store up fat for the pregnancy. Then, no matter what you do dieting or exercise, you can't lose weight.

If you do not take out the strong xenoestrogens are your environment and take progesterone, then taking progesterone backfire. You will actually gain weight instead of losing weight. This is because your body shuts down the estrogen receptors under chronic xenoestrogen exposure to protect itself. When you take progesterone, the estrogen receptors wake-up. Then, it seems like you're getting more estrogen even though you are not. This is why taking progesterone can lead to weight gain instead of weight loss. It is because the patient has not removed strong xenoestrogens from their environment. Progesterone can only balance out small amounts of weak xenoestrogens. Progesterone will reactivate the estrogen receptor and when you have strong xenoestrogens in your environment will make you worse.

Let me give you an analogous situation. Suppose you go to a rock concert. The rock concert seems extremely loud initially. Then, after about half an hour, the rock concert doesn't seem so loud anymore. Your ears have become less sensitive to the noise. The technical term for this is down-regulation. Your ears have down-regulated to the noise and the rock concert after half an hour. Similarly, if you have large amounts of strong xenoestrogens, then your estrogen receptor will down regulate or shut down to protect the body from all the xenoestrogens "noise". Taking progesterone will reactivate the estrogen receptors and up-regulate them. Now, it seems like you are getting a lot of estrogen even though you're estrogen intake has not changed.

In clinical practice, the patient invariably blames progesterone when they get worse. However what's really happening is that their estrogen sensitivity has gone up to normal. This is the most common call that I get from my patients.

The answer is to eliminate all strong xenoestrogens from your environment, wait for one to three months, and then try to take progesterone. The most common phone call I get is that "This progesterone doesn't work! I am getting weight gain instead of weight loss." Then, I usually take an hour and go through all the things the patient is putting on their skin. I usually find that they are using "healthy" shampoos from the health food store that contain herbs that are actually very estrogenic. I usually find that they have ignored my recommendations on laundry detergent and have chosen a health food store laundry detergent that actually contains herbs that mimic estrogen. In some cases, they have used health food store products that contain estrogen-mimicking herbs that it actually made them worse than before. I looked through 500 shampoos, and I only found three shampoos that seem to be okay. So, I have compiled a safe products sheet for my patients, and if they do not deviate from the safe products sheet, they seem to improve tremendously. It is important to recognize that any small deviation from this safe products sheet can result in the torpedoing of all your efforts.

I have had one patient that was able to trace right sided 9/10 severe abdominal pain, painful swollen breasts, bloating, and headaches to Chapstick that she used three times a week that contained small amounts of strong xenoestrogens. She most likely had an early ovarian cyst. The particular xenoestrogen used in the chapstick was cannabis oil.  Yes, thin women that smoke marijuana have a higher incidence of ovarian cysts.  Fat women that smoke marijuana do not have a higher incidence of ovarian cysts.  This is because the fat "soaks up" all the marijuana and the body does not "see" it.

I've had patients that complained that mascara make gave him bloating and breast tenderness. I've had patients that complained that omega-3 eggs from hens fed with flaxseed (flaxseed is a high-density strong phytoestrogen) have midcycle spotting. I've had patients complained that certain laundry detergents alone made them sick, bloat, and have breast tenderness. Initially, I was quite skeptical. However, from 1999 to 2014, I've had 20,000 patients and the consensus is quite startling. These xenoestrogens are active at minuscule quantities. Good science also backs this up.

Stanford University reported that this Bisphenol-A at 2 to 5 ppb (parts per billion) stimulates breast cancer cells to grow in the test tube. Bisphenol-A is a common chemical that is used in plastic. Many plastics out gas this Bisphenol-A into the food or liquid they are carrying. Even children's chew toys out gas Bisphenol-A. This was so worrisome that Walmart Canada pulled all the plastic bottles with Bisphenol-A in them from their shelves. However, despite the thousands of scientific papers showing Bisphenol-A to be a hormone disruptor and affect biological systems at minuscule quantities, the US FDA maintains that Bisphenol-A is safe.

Xenoestrogens can actually also be natural and organic. One of the more scientifically documented experiences with phytoestrogens is Sheep Clover disease in Australia. Mediterranean Subterranean Clover was imported to Australia to act as a protein source for the sheep to eat. However, the sheep after eating the Clover began to have stillbirths. After about three years, there were no baby lambs at all in the spring. After much consternation, it was found that the Clover had a chemical called formononetin. This phytoestrogen can cause temporary infertility resulting in stillbirths as well as permanent infertility in sheep. Formononetin is produced mostly during the green growing phase of the clover.

Plants need to protect themselves against animals. Some plants produce thorns. Some plants are poisonous. Some plants grow rapidly. And some plants are hormone disruptive. Although Sheep Clover disease is well documented to cause problems in sheep through hormonal manipulation, there are many other herbs that can cause hormonal problems in humans but are not as well documented. On my purple sheet, I have tried and true list of safe products to use that do not have these herbs that can cause hormone disruption. But I want to make this clear. I am not against herbs. However, you must be extremely careful about how you use herbs.

For instance, lavender may be used as a calming herb to induce sleep. Yet, lavender can cause gynecomastia in young boys (gynecomastia is "man boobs"). Therefore, lavender seems to stimulate the estrogen receptor. Estrogen causes endometriosis. Lavender seems to make endometriosis worse in my patients. In another instance, oregano can be used as antibacterial or antiviral Herb. However, oregano also seems to have an estrogen effect. Therefore, you may use oregano, if you have a virus temporarily. However, if you have endometriosis, oregano will certainly make your endometriosis flare.

Progesterone

Progesterone is the natural hormonal pregnancy. "Pro" means for. "Gesterone" refers to gestation. So, progesterone means "for gestation". Before the age of 35, the first part of the cycle is dominated by estradiol, and the latter half the cycle is dominated by progesterone. A follicle is produced by the ovary. The follicle looks like a pimple. The follicle produces estradiol. The follicle pops out an egg. The used follicle becomes the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum produces progesterone. Progesterone balances out estradiol. Fat on the belly and hips is not produced.

After the age of 35, the follicle comes up, no egg is popped out, no corpus luteum is produced. Thus, you have estradiol, but no progesterone.

In the absence of xenoestrogens, there is no fat on the belly and hips after the age of 35. However, with xenoestrogens and estradiol, and no progesterone there is fat on the belly and hips. Thus, simply take natural progesterone topically and eliminate xenoestrogens.

Natural progesterone is a hormone that is the same as or a bio-identical to your own progesterone at your body produces. Synthetic brand-name progestins are not the same as your own progesterone. Synthetic brand-name progestins are patented by pharmaceutical companies in order to produce large profits. What they do is to slightly modify the progesterone molecule and then patented so no one else can produce and sell that molecule. They have large research and development budget. They can hire hundred thousand dollars a year salesman. They can have a large advertisement budget. They can bamboozle physicians and patients into taking a progestin that is not normal.

Synthetic brand-name progestins cause birth defects. Natural progesterone does not cause birth defects and is routinely used by fertility medical doctors to prevent miscarriage. Fertility medical doctors use natural progesterone because it does not cause birth defects.

Which would you rather use?

Chromium and Vanadium

There is not much or little chromium found in North and South America. There is chromium in Europe, Asia, South Africa, but there is not much or little chromium found in North and South America. There is no chromium in the soil. There is no chromium in the grass the grows on the soil. There is no chromium in the cattle that eat the grass. There is no chromium in the human beings that eat the cattle. Therefore, all Americans are chromium deficient by definition. Chromium is used as a cofactor for insulin action. The only place you're going to get chromium is from a vitamin bottle.There is a small study of 20 women with gestational diabetes that was reversed improving glucose intolerance and lowering hyperinsulinemia by taking 200 or 400 µg of chromium picolinate per day[1]. There is a wide geographical variation in chromium levels. The incidence of diabetes and heart disease is lower in areas are chromium intakes are high.

One study examined chromium and exercise chain training the effect on obese women. It found that chromium nicotinate supplementation of 400 µg per day with exercise training resulted in significant weight loss and lowered insulin response to oral glucose load. However, chromium picolinate supplementation resulted in significant weight gain. So, to lose weight take 400 µg per day of chromium nicotinate. However, chromium nicotinate may result in hot flashes[2].

Vanadium seems to mimic insulin helps the body maintain blood sugar levels within the healthy range. One study gave type II diabetics 50 mg of vanadyl sulfate twice a day for four weeks. At the end of four weeks, they were found to have 20% reduction in average fasting blood sugar. The only adverse effect reported was minor gastrointestinal distress during the first few days of the study. Suggested dose is a hundred milligrams of vanadyl sulfate per day.

Iodine

According to Brownstein M.D., more than 90% of Americans are deficient in iodine. In addition, Americans are poisoned with bromine. Bromine seems to substitute for iodine and may deactivate thyroid hormone. Bromine and iodine are in the same family of compounds in the periodic table and are roughly the same size. Therefore, bromine can substitute for iodine. Bromine may be able to substitute for iodine in thyroid hormone and make the thyroid hormone impotent.

The Midwest around the Great Lakes region is notorious for iodine deficiency. Iodine is found in seawater. Ancient glaciers scraped out the Great Lakes. The soil that was scraped out used to contain iodine from the ancient ocean. However, since the Great Lakes for scraped out there is no iodine now. As a result, around the turn-of-the-century, there was a goiter belt around the Great Lakes. Table salt was iodized, and the goiters disappeared. This was a great triumph for public health. However, the amount of iodine in table salt is just enough to stave off goiter. The amount of iodine in table salt is not enough for optimal functioning of the human body. Abraham M.D. believes that 10 mg of iodine a day is the optimal amount of iodine for optimal functioning of the human body. This amount of iodine was calculated from the average intake of the people in Japan.

Because many Americans are poisoned with bromine, hypothyroidism is rampant. Bromine is found in soft drinks, sports drinks, brominated flour, commercial bakery products, asthma inhalers, and sleep aids. As of 2014, PepsiCo has begun to pull its brominated vegetable oil from its soft drinks. Coca-Cola company may follow suit as well as. Brominated vegetable oil is banned from soft drinks the European Union.

Because the thyroid hormone is made impotent by bromine toxicity, weight loss can be impaired. The solution is to take iodine. The iodine forces bromine out of the body. However, bromine will make you sick. When people take iodine get sick they usually blame it on iodine, but they should really blame bromine, not iodine. Bromine can cause a rash, hair loss, pimples, weight gain instead of weight loss, eyelid twitching, foot twitching, tingling in hands or feet, depression, anxiety, emotionality, mouth and tongue sores, brain fog, legs and hip Ake, metallic case, Jerry and humans, running nose, headache, sedation, lethargy, odd swallowing sensation, body odor, strange urine odor, dry mouth, frequent urination, diarrhea, constipation, pigeon changes, irritability, increase elevation, dream changes, kidney pain, and trends in breast tenderness. These are not effects from iodine but from bromine being pushed out by iodine. The most common side effect that I see from taking iodine is heart palpitations and vivid dreams. Personally, when taking iodine I experienced heart palpitations and vivid dreams. However, after taking two weeks of iodine, the heart palpitations and vivid gene stopped. The most devastating side effect from bromine toxicity from iodine being taken is a sore thyroid. The sore thyroid indicates that the thyroid cells are actually breaking up. The thyroid cells break up the insides of the thyroid cells go throughout the body, and the body may develop antibodies against the thyroid. This is commonly known as a Hashimoto's thyroiditis. So, if your thyroid becomes sore while taking iodine please stop immediately to prevent Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

So part of hypothyroid may be actually an iodine deficiency caused by bromine toxicity. Many times when patients take iodine they feel like a have more energy and are warmer and begin to lose weight. Taking iodine is an important part of losing weight.

Dieting

The current state-of-the-art diet is Shintani, M.D. diet. In Shintani, M.D.'s book, Eat More Weigh Less, Shintani M.D. explains that eating more of a vegetarian diet will prevent and reverse heart disease as well as diabetes type II. In addition, you will maintain a healthy weight effortlessly. He explains the problem with calorie limiting diets. A calorie limiting diet you eat fewer calories, but your stomach may not expand and you feel hungry. This primal hunger drive will lead you to eat more and it's difficult to lose weight. In addition, since your stomach does not expand physically you feel hungry and your body fixed starting and metabolism drops. Therefore, it is difficult to lose weight.

Let me explain. For instance, a hundred cobs of corn are equal to a hamburger and a milkshake in calories. If you tried to calorie limit you eat half a hamburger and half a milkshake. However, the stomach does not expand physically and you feel hungry and want to eat more. Also, since the stomach does not expand physically your body believes it to be starving. Your body begins to drop its metabolism to conserve energy and save fat. Therefore, it is difficult to lose weight because your body thinks it is starving because the stomach to not expanding physically.

However, if you ate 20 cobs of corn, your stomach would become full and would expand physically. Your body would not think it was starving and keep metabolism high. The fat would burn off because metabolism is high. However, 20 cobs of corn are equivalent calorie wise to one-fifth of a hamburger and a milkshake. So you would lose weight in two ways. One, calorie wise you would end up eating less. Two, because your body thinks the stomach is full it would maintain metabolism at a high rate and burn off calories.

Shintani M.D. has categorized foods into low-density calories and high-density calories. An example of a high-density calorie food would be oil. Oil has a low volume but a high amount of calories. At the opposite end of the spectrum is lettuce. Lettuce has a high volume but a fewer amount of calories. Shintani M.D. believes that you should for the most part, eat low-density calorie foods. You can treat yourself to high-density calorie foods every once in a while. For instance, meat would be a treat and occasional food, not a staple for your diet.  But for the most part, you should eat low-density calorie foods. Thus, you can eat as much as you want and lose weight.

Summary For Fighting Weight Gain

There you have it. Avoid xenoestrogens. Take progesterone. Take chromium and vanadium. Eat low-density calorie foods. If you order any product from us you'll get a list of safe products to use to avoid xenoestrogens. Remember that even a small amount of potent xenoestrogens can torpedo all your efforts.

I do have a Registered Dietician Nutritionist.  She does phone consultations.  Her name is Karen Bishop, RDN, LD.  You may see her here on her website.

Notes

1. Lois Jovanovic, Mario Gutierrez and Charles Peterson, "Chromium supplementation for women with gestational diabetes mellitus," The Journal of Trace Elements in Experimental Medicine, Volume 12, Issue 2, pages 91-97, 1999.

2. Grant KE, Chandler RM, Castle AL, Ivy JL, "Chromium and exercise training: effect on obese women." Med Sci Sports Exerc. Aug; 29 (8): pages, 992-8, 1997.