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The Ageless Woman Natural Health and Beauty After Forty with Maharishi Ayurveda NANCY LONSDORF, M.D. Copyright © 2004 MCD Century Publications, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without per- mission in writing from the Publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Permissions Department, MCD Century Publications, 2035 Hogback Road, Suite 107, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. Cover Design: Ko Wicke - Blackdog Design www.doghowze.com Author Photography: Mel Sauerbeck - www.navaswan.com ISBN 0-9721233-5-0 Trademark Information: The following service marks and trademarks are licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation: Maharishi Ayurveda, Maharishi Amrit Kalash, Amrit, Maharishi Rejuvenation, Transcendental Meditation, TM, TM- Sidhi, Yogic Flying, Maharishi, Maharishi Vedic Vibration Technology (MVVT), Vedic Science, Maharishi Gandharva Ved. This book is dedicated to Maharishi’s goal of establishing a disease-free society, permanent world peace, and heaven on earth in this generation. DISCLAIMER This book provides an educational guide for developing a healthy lifestyle at midlife and for correcting imbalances according to Maharishi Ayurveda. No part of this book is intended to diagnose or treat any disease or to replace standard medical care. Although preventive in intent, these guidelines do not replace modern preventive medical approaches recommended by your doctor. All information in The Ageless Woman is given with the understanding that the reader accepts full responsibility for her own health and well-being. While the self-care approaches outlined in this book have been safely used by hundreds of women, as with any health approach, the results cannot be guaranteed. The author and publisher are not responsible for any adverse effects that may result from the herbal and self-care approaches outlined in this book. Consult with your health-care professional before beginning any herbal products, remedies, or procedures described in this book and before making any changes in your current medical treatment. The views represented in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation or any of its subsidiaries. For the most complete understanding of Maharishi Ayurveda, it is recommended that you participate in the courses and programs of the Maharishi Vedic Health Centers, Maharishi Peace Palaces, and Maharishi Vedic Universities. CONTENTS Foreword to the Paperback Edition ix This Book is for You xi Introduction xiii PART I: Creating Health: The Key to A Smooth Transition 1. The Search for a Natural and Healthy Menopause 3 2. Achieving Balance Through Nature’s Intelligence 23 PART II: How to Restore Balance and Relieve Your Symptoms 3. The Wisdom of the Doshas: Understanding Your Mild Midlife Symptoms 39 4. Creating Balance for Relief of Your Mild Symptoms 59 5. Your Metabolism: Key to Resolving Your More Serious Symptoms 81 6. Purification for Relief of Your More Serious Symptoms 105 PART III: How to Overcome Specific Health Issues 7. Your Heart: Healthy and Happy, Naturally 127 8. Your Bones: Strong Without Drugs or HT 147 9. Your Mind: Out of the Fog into the Light 169 10. Your Emotions: Transforming Blues to Bliss 187 11. Your Skin: A Program for Ageless Beauty 211 Epilogue: The World Is Your Family 229 Glossary of Ayurvedic Terms 235 References 239 Resources 249 Index 253 FOREWORD TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION When I was just married, at age twenty-five, my husband used to tell me, “You’ll be incredible when you’re thirty-five.” I couldn’t understand what he meant, assuming as most American women do at virtually any age, that getting older means getting less attractive, less pretty, and less desirable. His message at age twenty-five of “you’re not getting older, you’re getting more beautiful” planted a seed idea in my mind that has refused to wither, even past the ripe “old” age of forty-five. After twenty years, I am convinced that older can mean more attractive, beautiful, and desirable — at any age. Healthy aging is a factor that is largely in our control. How you age is more a matter of how you treat yourself than of how life treats you. This book was originally written to help dispel the myth that menopause is an estrogen-deficiency disease that must be treated with hormone replacement. To give women a truly natural, nonhormonal approach to menopause and their future health was its primary aim. Fortunately, the findings of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), released in July 2002, changed overnight the way women and the medical community view menopause and women’s health thereafter. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has become officially hormone therapy (HT), acknowledging the fact that replacing hormones does not improve health, but creates damaging side effects. As I toured the country in 2002, speaking to women about the ancient natural approach to health described in this book, I kept hearing, “This book covers so much more than just menopause.” They were amazed at how deeply and completely its natural approaches addressed a wide variety of their health issues — and how personalized the program was. I was encouraged by their response to revise, update, and retitle this book for its paperback edition, so that women from age forty onward could have this practical ancient wisdom to smooth their menopause transition, and once through “the change,” to stay healthy, beautiful, and youthful. A Truly Natural Medicine The findings of the Women’s Health Initiative documenting HT’s failure to deliver many of its previous claims, along with the high risk of serious side effects, have opened the door to a plethora of alternative approaches. A positive shift has ix occurred, moving away from the concept of menopause as a disease requiring drugs and “replacement” hormones to an understanding of menopause as a natural transition, potentially smooth and disease-free. Herbs, foods, and lifestyle changes are coming to the forefront as viable and preferred alternatives to dangerous hormones and drugs. Yet, with the enthusiastic shift toward “natural” therapies, some caution must be exercised to ensure that what we utilize is truly safe. The term “natural,” although widely used in advertising to create an aura of safety, does not guarantee freedom from side effects. A number of these therapies, such as bioidentical, or so-called “natural” hormones, are promoted with unsubstantiated claims such as “proven safe and effective.” In some cases, these assertions are even contrary to the available evidence. A truly natural therapy not only has no side effects, but also has side benefits. It engages the entirety of Nature’s intelligence and helps the body heal itself. It does not create dependency while it promotes the healing of the body. Truly natural approaches help establish a state of resilient health that remains even after the catalysts for healing are withdrawn. Our health system is based on the idea that a “magic bullet” contains the answer to our health problems, most commonly in the form of a pill.. A risk-free magic bullet for health is a contradiction in terms and may forever be outside our grasp. For women who wish to be truly healthy, now is the time to face a simple truth: Health before, during, and after menopause cannot be found in a pill, no matter how natural. There is simply no substitute for creating a lifestyle that supports the healing and balance of your body and mind. After all, a healthy body and mind at any age depend on healthy living. x THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU! This book is for all women everywhere who wish to improve their health at midlife and enjoy a long, healthy life thereafter. Women who want a truly natural approach to good health at menopause and in the decades that follow, without drugs or hormones of any kind, will find a personalized, complete, and holistic approach in this book. If you are not sure whether “natural” is right for you, this book will help you understand your choices. It will explain clearly the latest research on the risks and benefits of various options and will provide an abundance of practical tips for a variety of concerns including memory, emotions, weight, heart health, bone density, and beauty. For those of you who are on hormone therapy (HT) and feel uneasy about it, this book will give you a way to address your menopause symptoms at their root and help you eliminate the need for HT. Finally, but no less importantly, this book is for all women who take HT and love the way they feel on it, because you will learn safer ways to feel good and be healthy without the risks of HT. And if you choose to continue HT, you will know you are correcting the underlying factors that promote disease, thereby creating glowing health and youthfulness from within. This book will help every woman discover and actualize the infinite sustaining wisdom of Nature within — the key to safely creating radiant good health at midlife and beyond. xi INTRODUCTION The basic premise of this book is that Nature knows best. According to Maharishi Ayurveda (muh-har-shee ah-yur-vay-duh), the comprehensive system of natural medicine on which this book is based, menopause is both natural and for the best. It is part of Mother Nature’s plan for the female physiology. And, contrary to the prevailing view, Mother Nature does not intend for a host of health problems and accelerated aging to plague women at midlife and beyond. Rather, menopause has a nurturing purpose — to support a woman’s health in her later life by preventing reproduction, which is too taxing for the more mature physiology.