Before the Change: Taking Charge of Your Perimenopause. This item is unavailable.Before the Change: Taking Charge of Your Perimenopause

A pioneering guide offers a clear diagnosis of the phase preceding menopause, a thorough survey of popular treatments for menopause, and a detailed guide to diet, exercise, and natural alternatives that can help women control their own health. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.

Manage Your Perimenopause Safely, Simply, Naturally
An estimated 35 million women are now in perimenopause--a period of about 10 years of profound hormonal, physiological, and psychological changes leading up to menopause. Its symptoms are often mistaken, even by doctors, for signs of stress, anxiety, or heart disease. In many cases, powerful medications such as Prozac are needlessly prescribed. Why are so few medical professionals knowledgeable about this very important phase in a woman's life? And what do women need to know to get themselves through perimenopause? Finally, some answers to help women alleviate the often misunderstood symptoms of perimenopause. BEFORE THE CHANGE: Taking Charge of Your Perimenopause by Ann Louise Gittleman offers a safe, effective, natural alternative for both women and the medical community with its clear definition of the perimenopause; thorough exploration of popular hormonal treatments and fads (hormone replacement therapy, DHEA, soy products, wild yam root, and more); and a detailed guide to diet, exercise, and natural treatments that can help women take control of their own health during this transitional time. Menopause is associated with a drop in estrogen; perimenopause, by contrast, is brought on by a decline in progesterone. Women as young as 35 experience the effects of this decline--sudden bloating, missed periods, insomnia, decreased sex drive. While this can be alarming, we all have powerful resources for treating ourselves right at our fingertips. Many simple changes to diet can clear symptoms immediately. Sometimes the addition of a nutritional supplement will do the trick. The first book of its kind, BEFORE THE CHANGE is a do-it-yourself guide to alleviating perimenopausal symptoms, including nine simple "Peri Zappers," her safe, all natural remedies. It also happens to serve as a kickoff for a weight loss program. Gittleman believes that we gain weight because we're eating the wrong foods for our body. When eating the meal plan based on the 40/30/30 concept (40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent fats, 30 percent protein), the body finds its natural low weight. BEFORE THE CHANGE offers invaluable advice for losing--and keeping off--those extra pounds, while heading off the worst symptoms of menopause before they start.