EigenGraphs

Menopause is an irreversible process and inseparable of the aging in a woman’s reproductive system, after which she can no longer menstruate. Climacteric is the general term for the time from the period of this transition to the early postmenopausal phase of a woman’s reproductive life cycle.

Perimenopause refers to the time before menopause when vasomotor symptoms and irregular menses often commence. Menopause, by definition, begins 12 months after the final menses and is characterized by a continuation of vasomotor symptoms and by urogenital symptoms such as vaginal dryness and dyspareunia.

Symptoms

The symptoms can be attributed by the facts that some women just stop having periods. Others go through several years of symptoms. The most common symptom of menopause is hot flashes. Other physical symptoms might be aching joints and muscles, fatigue, weight gain or skin changes. Blood tests can confirm menopausal status.

Most of the common symptoms that occur during menopause can be illustrated as follows:

•Hot Flashes: A hot flash is a feeling of severe heat in the upper part or all of the body. The face and neck may become flushed, with red blotches appearing on the chest, back, and arms. This is often followed by teeming sweating and then cold shivering as body temperature readjusts. A hot flash can last a few moments or 30 minutes or longer.

•Genitals: Problems with dryness, itching, pain during sexual intercourse, or irritation of the tissues in and around the vagina;

•Urinary System: Problems with abrupt or frequent urinating;

•Mental Health: The menopausal woman shifting from raging, angry moods into depressive, doleful slumps with no apparent reason or warning.

•Blood Vessels: Quick body temperature changes (hot flashes) and waking during the night

•Brain/Nerves: Moods that change frequently or a tendency towards sadness or anger.

•Bone: A higher risk of weaker bones, osteoporosis, and bone breaks;

•Heart: Acceleration of risk factors associated with heart attacks and other heart problems

•Skin: Problems with thinner skin, wrinkling, and blemishes as estrogen levels drop.

Lifestyle & preventions

Although menopause is a natural occurring thing of life that cannot be prevented, there are simple steps you can take to help make this an easier experience.

1.Quit Smoking. Smoking increases the chances of heart diseases, cancer and osteoporosis.

2.Regular Exercise. Exercise helps keeping heart healthy, bones and muscles strong, and energy level and metabolism high.

3.Healthy diet. A healthy diet impacts every aspect of your health - from heart health to cancer risk to bone health.

4.Stay cool during hot flashes. Avoid things that can cause or increase the intensity of hot flashes, such as hot drinks, alcohol, spicy foods, hot weather or hot rooms.

5.Ease vaginal dryness. Use of over-the-counter water-based lubricants can be used to ease the discomfort of intercourse due to vaginal dryness.

6.Improve bladder control. You can improve bladder control with exercises. Anyone can do these and at any time.

7.Talk about it. Menopause is a normal, natural part of life. Talk to your doctor about what you are experiencing. Share with your partner know how you are feeling.

8.Relax and de-stress. Stress and a hectic lifestyle can certainly increase and intensify any symptoms you may experience. Relaxing will give you an over-all sense of well-being.

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a
medication-based system of replacing the estrogen and possible progestin lost during menopause. Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT) contains estrogen only and is usually prescribed for women who have had surgically-induced menopause. Traditional Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) contains both estrogen and progestin and is usually prescribed for women experiencing natural menopause.

Benefits of HRT

HRT is beneficial in both protecting a woman against the long term effects of menopause as well as treating the immediate symptoms. By replacing the estrogen lost, HRT helps to prevent osteoporosis and may protect against heart disease. In addition, HRT relieves the hot flashes and vaginal dryness that many women experience.

Risks of HRT

In recent studies, women who have undergone HRT have experienced higher incidences of breast and endometrial cancers. For this reason, doctors are being encouraged to prescribe HRT for the shortest amount of time possible, and to encourage women to take other measures to protect against heart disease and osteoporosis.

To prevent bone loss:

Maintain a healthy diet and exercise. Other treatments for preventing bone loss and osteoporosis (severe loss of bone) include calcium tablets and Vitamin D. These can be taken separately or combined in a pill.

To prevent heart disease:

A healthy diet and regular exercise can help to keep your heart healthy as you age. If your cholesterol is high, however, you may need cholesterol-lowering drugs. These drugs are called the “statin” drugs, such as lovostatin, simvastatin, and pravastatin.

Thus, Physical changes do occur with menopause and with aging. But the changes that happen during this period can be minimized by healthy living and a sense of purpose in life. So start exercising and lead a happy and healthy life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Hilton is the contributing editor to www.affordable-prescriptions.md, Please send feedback at john.hilton001@gmail.com

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Who can resist the mouth-watering pictures in a cookbook? Who
doesn’t have childhood memories of the fragrances that wafted
from the kitchen on holidays, and even on regular, ordinary
days? Spices, bread baking, cookies fresh out of the oven - all
these trigger a deep longing in most of us. As eating holds a
guaranteed spot in everybody’s daily schedule, so do those who
prepare it. They have beome the uncrowned gods and goddesses of
our lives.

Real cooking consists of more than opening a can with a dull
picture of green beans on the front, or popping a TV dinner from
a wax-covered box into the oven or microwave. The true goal of
cooking is to nourish these marvelous bodies that we live in, to
allow them to grow and express vitality and strength, to keep
them healthy and able to overcome environmental germs and
bacteria. Summarized in one word, the main purpose of cooking is
heath!

When does a fruit or vegetable (or any baked item) furnish us
with the most nutrition? The experts feel that food grown in
one’s own environment will usually contain the most nutrition.
Freshly harvested food provides the maximum nutritional value.
After a fruit or vegetable has been sitting for several days, or
transported around the world, the value of the vitamins and
minerals diminishes.

The best means of ‘cooking’ fruits and vegetables for their
health value is to eat them raw in salads or as snacks. As soon
as heat is applied, a good quantity of the nutrition is
destroyed. A good cook can prepare a beautiful plate with the
natural colors of freshly picked fruits and vegetables.

Genetically engineered food has infiltrated the growing of
almost all crops. This procedure didn’t exist until the last
decade, and it remains highly controversial as the long range
effect on humans has never been tested.

Briefly described, this procedure consists of infecting a
healthy seed or grain with various bacteria or insects to
lengthen its shelf life, to make it look ‘pretty’ for the
consumer long after the nutritional value has dissolved. This
not only has a negative effect on one’s health, but leaves the
cook with a less than delicious product to serve.

Cooking with natural foods that are organically grown (that
means with no harmful pesticides or chemical fertilizers) gives
today’s health conscious cooks the best chance to delight in the
time spent shopping and in the kitchen. Whipping up a carrot
cake that will enchant both family and friends (best make two
cakes while you’re at it), or preparing a quick but nutritious
breakfast so the body will gleefully handle the challenges of
the day without needing to be drugged by coffee or caffeine,
make heading for the kitchen the favorite part of the day! Truly
the cook is the god of the household!

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(ARA) - What size, what color, what brand? This time of year, most of us are racking our brains trying to decide on the perfect gift for everyone. Here’s a tip: everyone eats.

Food has long been a traditional gift during the holidays and for good reason. It is always appreciated and can be enjoyed by the whole family. It comes in all price ranges, and it can be easily packed and shipped as a surprise for far flung friends and relatives.

Baskets of fresh fruit or nuts, cheese trays or popcorn tins have been the customary choices during the holidays. But why not be more original? There are so many other creative options available.

“Most of us want to give something more unique than what you might buy at the mall for a last-minute gift,” says Jill Blashack, president and CEO of Tastefully Simple, a gourmet foods company that sells products through home taste-testing parties. “By putting together interesting combinations of gourmet foods, you can personalize your gift to fit any individual or family.”

Here are some ideas for creating unique gourmet gift packages:

* The gift of a home cooked meal. Why not put together all the things needed for an easy home-cooked winter meal: a savory wheat bread and crackers paired with an interesting soup or chili mix. Add some fresh apples and oranges and a few bundles of cookies or brownies.

* Romantic picnic. Include everything needed for an intimate picnic: two wine glasses, a bottle of white wine, some small cheeses, a loaf of bread, some flavored olive oil for dipping (Tastefully Simple Balsamic and Basil Dipping Oil), a small tablecloth, a cutting board and paring knife, some fresh fruit and a box of Tastefully Simple Truffle Fudge Brownie mix.

* A party pack — everything needed for an impromptu cocktail party. A selection of seasoning mixes for making easy dips, gourmet crackers, chips or bread, a jar of black bean salsa and some candied almonds or pecans.

* A theme dinner. Gather the ingredients for an Italian night: dried pasta, a jar of gourmet tomato sauce, dried pesto mix, crunchy bread and a bottle of wine; throw in some amaretto cookies for dessert. Or how about a Mexican meal? Include a jar of fresh salsa, a jar of Tastefully Simple Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam, chips, a selection of colorful fresh peppers, a bottle of tequila, margarita mix, course ground salt and two margarita glasses.

* A mid-afternoon break selection including an instant chai blend and some hot chocolate mix, an apple cake or fudge brownie mix, some Anjou pears and a few gourmet cheeses.

* Rainy/snowy day gift pack. Think of all the things that would be great to have on a cold winter’s day when you don’t feel like going out: a few best selling novels, a deck of cards, some Tastefully Simple Bountiful Beer Bread, a creamy wild rice soup mix, and a ready-to-bake apple cake.

If you don’t have time to put together your own gift basket, Tastefully Simple has a number of distinctive gift packs already assembled. Spice It Up is a grouping of mulling spices, muffin mix and toffee oatmeal cookie mix; Souper Douper brings together three creamy soup mixes — cheddar broccoli, wild rice and potato cheddar; Sweet on You will satisfy any sweet tooth with Creamy Caramel sauce and Twisty Grahams cookies.

For more gift ideas and to find out how to order Tastefully Simple products and gift packs, visit www.tastefullysimple.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content

About the author:

Courtesy of ARA Content

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Why is that whenever you see a recipe with the finished cookies
pictured and then try to duplicate those cookies they never come
out “just right”? It’s like the fast food commercials that tempt
you with a big juicy hamburger perfectly sitting on a fresh bun
and when you actually purchase the burger, what you get is a
shriveled piece of meat stuck between two flattened pieces of
bun!

Do you want your chocolate chip cookies to come out soft and
chewy every single time? The secret to perfect chocolate chip
cookies is really very simple! And you can make them with any
chocolate chip recipe at your disposal.

The problem with most chocolate chip cookie recipes is they have
you drop a spoonful on a cookie sheet and bake them for 9 to 12
minutes until the tops are golden brown. That is too long! By
the time the tops are golden brown, your bottoms are dark brown,
or worse, burnt. After the cookies have baked this long,
removing them from the oven in this over-baked condition and
having them stand only causes them to harden up like
jawbreakers. Instead of soft, chewy cookies that melt in your
mouth, you end up with hard, crunchy cookies with burnt bottoms.

Dropping larger amounts on the cookie sheet to make bigger
cookies doesn’t work. It takes longer for the middle of the
cookie to bake and you still end up with burnt bottoms and hard
cookies.

Instead of following the recipe instructions to bake 9 to 12
minutes, underbake your cookies by a couple of minutes. The
first time you try this, you will have to play around with the
time and the size of your cookie drops to get the perfect
chocolate chip cookie for your oven. But, as a general rule,
after you put your cookie tray in your oven (always on the top
rack), set your timer for 6 to 8 minutes. When you pull your
cookies out, the entire top should NOT be golden brown. Instead,
the peaks of the top of the cookie should just be turning brown.
At this time, the entire bottom of your cookie is golden brown
and the rest of cookie is the same color as the batter.

Remove the cookie tray from the oven and let them stand for a
minute or so since the cookies will be incredibly soft and will
fall apart if you try to immediately remove them from the cookie
sheet. After they have firmed up a bit, remove them from the
cookie sheet to your cooling rack or a piece of wax paper.

With this method, you are guaranteed to bake the perfect
chocolate chip cookies and have people asking you what YOUR
secret is!

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter,
granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop
by teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in preheated 375 degree F oven for 6 to 7 minutes or until
peaks in top of cookie are starting to brown. Let stand for 2
minutes. Remove to wire racks or wax paper to cool completely.

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During the holiday season, most of us are in a frantic search for presents for loved ones and friends. Next time, instead of the usual hassle of selecting a gift which will suit him or her, try sending a wine gift basket instead. Wine gift basketsare a perfect present for both men and women and suit every occasion e.g. Birthdays, Weddings etc. The information below will help you select an appropriate wine gift for that special occasion.

Who will be receiving the wine gift basket?

Men will prefer a bottle of wine, which they can open and drink immediately or store in their own wine cabinet (The smile when he or she unwraps the present to discover a 1990 Bordeaux is priceless) whereas women are usually more delighted with a wine accessory e.g. Corkscrew, Crystal Wine glasses or a decanter. Below are the four basic questions you need to ask yourself before you shop for a wine gift.

What is the occasion?

Different wine gift baskets are suitable for various occasions. Wine gift baskets are a favorite for parties. The numerous items within will allow everyone to enjoy the gift and enjoy the wine with delicious tidbits as well. Wine merchants also have wine gift baskets for special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Christmas etc.

What is your budget?

Most nifty wine gift baskets can be had for $25-$50 although fine wines will be more expensive. Wine gifts often include cheese and chocolates (a favorite with children). Just remember it is the thought that counts!

What is their knowledge of Wine?

If the wine gift is for a beginning wine enthusiast, then a well-written book on enjoying wine will be an excellent gift whereas an expert wine enthusiast might enjoy having a stopper for the half empty bottle of wine. Try to find a wine gadget that he does not already own, most people will be touched by the thoughtfulness of your gift. The wine gadget will also remind him/her of your friendship each time he enjoys a bottle of fine wine.

Peter is an wine enthusiast who has created his own website which offers information on Wine Cabinets and fine wine.

url@fine-wine-guide.com
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