Tag Archives: menopause

Improving Libido Naturally

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Most people go through changes of libido during their lifespan puberty onwards. Some changes are natural, just the way nature intended, but sometimes this is not the case. A fluctuation in libido can occur when people go through certain situations or circumstances in their life. These can range from a physical accident to a depressive episode in life and the whole range in between. Certain physical illnesses and medications can also affect the libido levels.

I find that females are more prone to a loss of libido earlier in life, as early as their 20’s, and majority of the times its related to their mental and emotional state – stress is the number one reason for a decrease in libido, following that would be a hormonal change, or body image issues. However, in older men and women, a change in libido is usually related to stress, medications, andropause, perimenopause and menopause. As the hormone levels dwindle down, so does the libido.

So how can you change it back to where it was or even improve libido naturally?

In order to improve your libido naturally, its important to first figure out what might have caused the change in the first place. So, take an inventory of your life currently and see what has changed.

  1. If you are unhappy in a relationship or are having stressful marital or relationship issues, your libido is definitely going to get affected.
  2. Are you overwhelmed or stressed? If your mind is preoccupied all the time, there is no time for the body to get into the mood! If you have too much stress at work and home, and not enough time to spend with your partner, this will definitely affect your energy levels and in term your libido.
  3. Have your hormones changed? You would generally feel very different if this were the case. Talk to your naturopathic doctor (ND) to run a hormone panel using saliva to test your bioavailable hormones especially testosterone to see if this is the cause for loss of libido. If this is the case, your naturopath can definitely help you by giving you guidance on natural herbs and supplements that would help bring up the libido and testosterone levels.
  4. Have you recently started a medication for lowering your blood pressure or cholesterol? These quite often tend to decrease your libido.
  5. Are you feeling anxious, depressed, moody, nervous and sad?  If this is the case, you need to speak to your naturopathic physician to see if there is an imbalance in your neurotransmitters, hormones or if there is a significant lack of certain vitamins and minerals.

There are various herbs/ natural products available on the market that claim to boost your libido naturally, but it is important to talk your naturopath first as quite often, these herbs / natural products do much more than just increase your libido, so its important to be safe than sorry.

By: Sushma Shah, Toronto Naturopathic Doctor, at the Nature’s Intentions Naturopathic Clinic.

Soy Controversy – Should I Or Should I Not Eat It?

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There has been a lot of controversy regarding soy foods and the whether we should use soy or not. Soy is a bean that has become more and more popular in the past decade as more and more people started to switch over from regular milk to an alternative and Soy was readily available. Now we have plenty of other choices such as goat milk, sheep milk, oat milk, hemp milk, almond milk, rice and brown rice milk.

The controversy with soy comes from the fact that it contains oxalates and phytoestrogens, which can effect the endocrine system – namely your thyroid hormones and female hormones and have been suggested to increase cancer risk. However, if you look at studies based on Asian diets, the prevalence of breast cancer is actually low in their women and part of their diet includes soy products. The difference comes from the fact that they consume fermented soy products such as tofu and miso as opposed to raw soy products. Fermented soy products in general are much better as the different acids – oxalic acid and phytic acid that the beans contain are broken down.

Soy also contains genistein and daidzein. These are isoflavones and have various health benefits especially when used correctly – for menopause. When menopause approaches, the dropping estrogen levels can cause symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes and night sweats. Isoflavones can be beneficial to reduce these symptoms as they mimic estrogen on estrogen receptor sites in the body. Talk to your Naturopathic Doctor if you are suffering from peri-menopause or menopause symptoms and want to treat them naturally.

Soy is an allergen, and a lot of people are allergic to soy or soy products and can have symptoms ranging from mild stomach aches and diarrhea to an anaphylactic shock. Hence its important to be vigilant when using soy products.

As a naturopath, my recommendations is make sure you are okay to take it before trying it out. So should you take it? It does have various health benefits that cannot be ignored, so yes if you are okay with it.

By: Sushma Shah, Toronto Naturopathic Doctor, at the Natures Intentions Naturopathic Clinic.

Natural Treatment For Menopause / Perimenopause

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TREATING MENOPAUSE OR PERIMENOPAUSE NATURALLY

Menopause is the time at “mid-life” when a woman has her last period. It happens when the ovaries stop releasing eggs — usually a gradual process. Sometimes it happens all at once. It can be a stop-start process that may take months or years. “Climacteric” is another word for the time when a woman passes from the reproductive to the non-reproductive years of her life. Most women tend to go through various symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, mood swings and hair loss among other symptoms.

Perimenopause and menopause bring about huge hormonal changes, that are mostly responsible for the symptoms that follow suit. Saliva hormone testing is the best way to figure out how the hormones have changed and what is required next for the treatment for menopause or perimenopause symptoms naturally.

NATUROPATHIC TREATMENTS FOR MENOPAUSE INCLUDE:

  1. Diet, exercise, lifestyle, stress management and counseling
  2. Nutritional supplementation
  3. Herbal Medicine
  4. Homeopathy
  5. Traditional Chinese Medicine / Acupuncture
  6. Natural Hormones

Here are simple diet and lifestyle suggestions for the natural treatment of menopause and perimenopause:

Increase intake of the following foods:

  • Cold water fish such as salmon, tuna, herring, mackerel and halibut
  • Flaxseeds
  • Soy foods*
  • Legumes
  • Whole grains and seeds
  • Sea vegetables
  • Wild yams

ALSO:

  • Avoid spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol as can trigger hot flashes
  • Decrease animal and saturated fats
  • Regular physical activity – stretching, aerobic exercises: walking, jogging, yoga and weight bearing exercises
  • Relaxation for stress management. Need more information, please check out our menopause centre

By: Sushma Shah, Toronto Naturopathic Doctor, at the Nature’s Intentions Naturopathic Clinic.

Low Libido And Menopause

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Women often complain about low libido or low sex drive when they enter their menopausal years and often ask for natural cures that would help bring up their sex drives and here is what I often ask them if its just hormonal changes that is causing this problem or other factors are at play, and here is what I have found.

Most couples at this stage in their life have families, jobs, kids and various stresses in their life that prevent them from thinking about how it used to be or how they used to feel towards each other when they were dating or got married.

Daily chores like cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes and lunches for the kids have taken over what used to be the time the couples would spend together. So here is some simple advice I give to some of my clients:

– Try to reconnect to the way it used to be – go out for a date night once or twice a month, if not per week.

– Get to know each other again away from the daily chores and commitments. Drop of the kids at the parents and take some time out for each other in your busy schedules

– Feel young again – dress up for your date the way you used to when you are still dating and before life took over.

– Is he / she too busy to take you to lunch? Well surprise him / her at work for a quick lunch.

– Drop a quick love note / card in his briefcase stating how you feel.

– Go for a nice relaxing massage at the end of the day so you can feel relaxed and pampered before your night out.

However, if the low libido is mostly related to the low hormone levels, talk to your naturopath about natural supplements that will help improve libido and lubrication.

By: Sushma Shah, Naturopathic Doctor, at the Nature’s Intentions Naturopathic Clinic.