Mid September 2013 was the last cycle I
had for the year, it is now the second month of 2014 and it has still
stayed away.  My cycles stopped very abruptly.  Within a week of my last
cycle I began to wake at night feeling hot and on occasion through the
day I would feel a rush of heat.

The beginning of menopause had started and I thought I’d go to my trusty
Yam Cream – but it gave me no relief.  A friend gave me some of her
natural progesterone cream which helped for a week after using it once.
But once I read the ingredients I wasn’t so sure I wanted to use it for
the rest of my menopausal life.My symptoms got worse, every night I felt I was being stifled and then
during the day as the flashes got more intense and more frequent, I
began sweating profusely, and it didn’t help that it was summer.   I’m
not one that likes to put up with discomfort so decided I needed to do
something about it.

I started researching to understand what a hot flash was as well as
treatment advice.  Hot flashes and night sweats are thought to be caused
by a complex interaction that involves fluctuating hormone levels, the
hypothalamus region of the brain that regulates body temperature, brain
chemicals and receptors, and the body’s blood vessels and sweat glands.
Ok so that really didn’t help, in other words they have no idea, but it
is known that progesterone via skin or mouth as well as anti-depressant
drugs work a treat.

Being someone who hates the thought of relying on drugs and creams for
the rest of my life I decided that I needed to do something different,
which is the way I tackle most things.  So January 12th 2014, I went
back on my 4 Phase Fat Elimination Protocol.  I had to do something very
disciplined and cut out as many foods as I could to then later
introduce them back into the diet to find out if food was the culprit.  I
didn’t know if this would be the answer, but if I continued doing the
same thing as I had been doing then nothing was going to change. If
anything the hot flashes were just going to become more frequent and
more intense.

The last time I did the protocol 2011, I lost 4.5kg very quickly and
didn’t suffer too much except I found I was hungry at times – especially
weekends when I wasn’t busy and thinking more about food.  Over the 21
days of Phase 2, I managed to lose just under the 9kg which I never put
on again, plus learnt that gluten containing grains and foods were best
to stay away from.  Hello my name is Cyndi O’Meara and it has been 2.5
years since my last wheat based bread, pasta, biscuit, cookie, danish
and muffin!

My experience of the protocol this time was vastly different.  I started
the protocol at 62.4kg just 700gms higher then when I finished the
protocol 2.5 years ago.  By the time I had finished loading I was
62.8kg.  Within 24 hours of beginning phase 2 I went down to 62kg and
stayed there for 10 days, it was just like ground hog day.  Weight was
not my issue it was more my health so it really didn’t bother me too
much.  I felt good, I felt disciplined and I felt in control.  When I
started into phase 2 of the protocol, I had three horrific nights, where
my night sweats/hot flashes were so bad they would wake me up and keep
me awake for quite some time.  I tossed, I turned, I could not get
comfortable, it was frustrating.  Then by night 4 the flashes started to
calm down and by the end of the first week all night sweats had
disappeared.  I was sleeping through the night, although on the night of
the 8th day I got up to go to the toilet at least 4 times, I must have
been throwing off a lot of inflammation and stored water.

Phase 2, Day 9 (P2D9) I got on the scale with a loss of 800gms 61.2kg.  I
stayed at 61.2kg for 5 more days and then another drop to 60.6kg then
60.1kg on P2D14 and P2D15, at this point I started to drop consistently
but I also was getting headaches and migraines which persisted for 5
days, two of those days I spent in bed sleeping.  During the time I had
migraines I also had blocked ears, something I suffered from before I
did my first protocol 2.5 years ago.  I also had no energy, became
stressed easily and slept for long periods of time.  By the time the
migraines left I had dropped to 59.2kg on P2D21, time to go to P3.

The miracle of the week from hell (migraines, blocked ears and endless
tiredness) is, as I passed into P3 I realised my day time hot flashes
had disappeared, with an occasional warm period but nothing like I had
been experiencing.

During the tough days of migraines, headaches, blocked ears and extreme
tiredness I called my coach Anna on the Healthy Living Club.  I was not
in a good frame of mind, I wanted to eat fat and stop P2, she reassured
me that the last few kg of fat you lose is usually the toughest and the
most toxic and symptoms like I was suffering were normal.

Intuitively I knew everything Anna was saying, but because I was not in a
powerful state I relied on Anna to get me through this tough, rough
spot.  A coach is so important when going through a health crisis.  They
keep you on track, reassure you and let you know you are not alone.

P3 is now over and I’ve finished at 59.2kg just 200 gms from the holy grail weight for my height.

I began to wonder if it was that last bit of fat that could have had old
stored toxins or the food I had been eating for the last 2.5 years that
was causing the hot flashes so I did a little research.

I found that Losing 10lb – 4.5kg ‘can reduce menopause symptoms’
including hot flushes and night sweats.  Losing excess weight could help
banish the symptoms of the menopause, research has suggested. Women who
managed to shift 10lb – 4.5kg or more suffered fewer hot flushes and
night sweats.

The findings may encourage doctors to tell menopausal patients to lose
weight before prescribing hormone replacement therapy.  Many women are
reluctant to use HRT over fears it can heighten the risk of breast
cancer and heart disease. American scientists behind the latest study
think that weight loss reduces the levels of certain hormones that
trigger symptoms.

Overweight women tend to produce more oestrogen, a hormone which is
thought to aggravate hot flushes and night sweats. And experts also
think that having excess body fat may prevent the body from cooling down
after a flush.  We also know that fat cells store many hormones
including leptin which is the master hormone and monitored by the
hypothalamus.

The study looked at 17,473 women who were all going through menopause,
none of whom was on HRT. They were all put on a low-fat diet which
consisted of fruit, vegetables and wholegrain bread, cereal, rice and
pasta.  (hmm these foods would not be what I recommend to lose the
weight but this was the diet of the study).  Women who managed to shed
10lb – 4.5kg  had fewer hot flushes and night sweats over the following
year compared to those who only lost a little weight, or stayed the
same.

Lead author Candyce Kroenke from healthcare firm Kaiser Permanente,
which carried out the research, said the cause for hot flashes was not
completely understood.

Weight loss, especially loss of fat mass but not lean (muscle) mass, might help alleviate hot flashes and night sweats.

If this was the case, then why do some women without fat still experience hot flashes.  There has to be more.

Diet may have a huge part to play in the role menopausal symptoms.  I’m
on phase 4 right now and introducing foods very slowly to see if I can
pinpoint the food group or food that may be causing the problem.

Before I began the protocol I was eating all flesh foods, vegetables,
salads, herbs, spices, fruit, coffee, dairy mainly fermented, rice,
quinoa, nuts, seeds, cacao, rapadura sugar, seaweed salt, coconut oil,
coconut, herbal teas and eggs.  While I was on the protocol I kept my
food selections within a small range including broccoli, asparagus,
spinach, all leafy greens, mainly red meat (lamb and beef), apples,
papaya and berries.

It’s a relief to not put up with the hot flashes I was experiencing.
I’m now sleeping through the night and sleeping soundly as well as not
having to think about what I have to wear regarding layering of clothes
to strip off one minute and put back on the next – and it is still
summer.

My journey is not finished. I’m in phase 4 and slowly introducing foods
back into my food selection.  Fat first, then seeds and onward to nuts
and fermented dairy.  I’ll keep you posted as to what I find.

I am just one person, I have always eaten real foods, what happened to
me doesn’t mean it will happen to anyone else in that exact way.  It’s
been 2.5 years since the first time I did the 4 Phase Fat Elimination
Protocol, so my body has had time to repair from the damage wheat and
gluten has done to it, now it’s time to see how much better I can
become.  My hot flashes began as a whisper by the time I started the
protocol they were screaming at me to do something.  It’s important to
listen to the cues of your body, it speaks clearly, it is a matter of
your listening.

You may be thinking that you don’t want to give up the foods that you
think you love, but it’s not about giving up food it’s about finding
more foods that will love you back.  I’d love to see a club, not a
survivors club but rather a club where we have all treated our bodies
with utter respect as opposed to a rubbish tip, where we decide to stop
throwing rubbish into our bodies and start nurturing it with foods that
can make us the best version of ourselves. Where eating a food that you
know isn’t right for your body is not an option.

If you are someone who has started with Changing Habits because you
heard about this wonderful weight loss protocol, then I hope that you
have learnt that weight loss is the by-product of the education your
mind and body gets on my programs and protocols.  Changing Habits is not
about quick weight loss, although that does happen.  Changing Habits is
a company that wants to help you be the most healthiest and best
version of your self, and in order to do this, sometimes it takes time
and patience.  This is not the quick fix one pill wonder company.

Many of the books, programs and protocols have an abundance of
information, it’s not there to collect dust but rather for you to read
it and read it well.  It is there because it helps explain what is
happening in your body as you go through each of my programs.

For instance the information about gluten.  Some of you may have found
out that gluten causes an inflammatory response in your body, but you
think that you can have just a little on occasion or you are dumbfounded
that you can never have an apple danish again.  I know that this is
really a hard concept, but more importantly the concept I want you to
get is that if you do have a gluten intolerance then the issue is that
you may have the beginnings of a disease that is like a freight train,
it’s hard to get it going but once it is full steam ahead it is very
hard to stop.  By doing the loss protocols you’ve learnt early,
you have an opportunity in the early stages.

I’ve been listening to the Gluten Summit over the last couple of months,
30 hours of experts from around the world talking about the influence
of gluten in the human body.  Some of the doctors, professors and
researchers I’ve been listening to, I’ve had to listen many times over
to really understand the concepts.  But to put it in layman’s terms if
you have an inflammatory response to gluten then even a mirco amount can
set up a cascade of reactions in your body that may take between 4 to 6
months to stop.  That cascade of reactions can be any number of
autoimmune diseases like hashimotos, MS, lupus, osteoporosis, dementia,
arteriosclerosis, type 1 diabetes, arthritis and another 200 plus
diseases that have now been identified to autoimmune.  You may not have
any symptoms except for inflammation (weight gain or pain or tiredness)
when you eat wheat or gluten.

I’ve picked gluten here, but there are other food triggers that can cause this and this I discuss fully in the hunter gatherer loss protocol.
The whole premise that natural foods can cause disease is emerging and
it’s not because they are natural that is the problem but rather what
science, technology, agriculture and food processing has done to the
food.  Once you grasp this you will understand the importance of
adherence to the education you have received from the protocol.

If you cheat on the programs and protocols even just a little when you
know what effects you, then you are doing a disservice to yourself and
the only body you get in this life.

Healing takes time, miracles do happen, but they take time.  You can
recover from many ailments but it takes time, persistence and
consistency.  My video of the month is about a woman who has had a
miracle but she is dedicated to taking the time, being persistent and
consistent in her endeavours to cure herself of multiple sclerosis.  You
may not be in this type of crisis, but why wait, do things now so that
all the balls are in your court in order to prevent disease and
discomfort later.