The wisdom of menopause: creating physical and emotional health and healing during the change

Introduction : The journey begins --

Midlife : redefining creativity and home --

Why I'm writing a menopause book now --

Blazing a new trail --

1. Menopause puts your life under a microscope --

"Not me, my marriage is fine" --

The childbearing years : balancing personal and professional lives --

Why marriages must change at midlife --

My personal fibroid story : the final chapter --

Feeling the joy of co-creative partnership --

The forces that change the goose also change the gander --

Real menopause hits --

My marriage goes bankrupt --

Armadillo medicine : the power of vulnerability --

Celebrating the past while creating a new future --

2. The brain catches fire at menopause --

Our cultural inheritance --

Our brains catch fire at menopause --

Learning to recognize and heed our wake-up calls --

Is it me or is it my hormones? Debunking the myth of raging hormones --

The multiple roles of your "reproductive" hormones --

Embracing the message behind our menopausal anger --

Emotions, hormones, and your health --

How our midlife brains and bodies are set up to heal our past --

Finding a larger meaning --

3. Coming home to yourself : from dependence to healthy autonomy --

The empty-nest syndrome --

Boomerang babies --

Powerful feelings, powerful healing --

Caring for ourselves, caring for others : finding the balance --

Hitting pay dirt : getting clear about money at midlife --

Coming home to yourself --

Vocational awakening at midlife --

A road map for navigating unknown territory --

4. This can't be menopause, can it? The physical foundation of the change --

What is happening in your body : hormonal changes --

Perimenopause is a normal process, not a disease --

The three types of menopause --

Is there a test I can take? --

Menopause and thyroid function --

Menopause and adrenal function --

What to expect in your transition --

5. Hormone replacement : an individual choice --

A brief history of hormone replacement --

Bioidentical hormones : nature's ideal design --

A hormone primer : essential information every woman should know --

How to decide whether or not to take hormones --

A dusting of hormones --

How long should you stay on hormones? --

Foods and supplements to support the change --

Basic principles of herbal therapy at menopause --

Menopause healing foods --

Traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture for menopause --

Start somewhere --

7. The menopause food plan : a program to balance your hormones and prevent middle-age spread --

Making peace (once again) with my weight --

Six steps to midlife weight control --

The hormone-balancing food plan --

Optimizing midlife digestion --

The final frontier : accepting our bodies --

8. Creating pelvic health and power --

What is yours, what is mine, what is ours? Reclaiming our boundaries --

Hormonal imbalance : fuel to the fire --

Menstrual cramps and pelvic pain --

Heavy bleeding --

Fibroids --

An empowered approach to surgery or invasive procedures --

Strengthen your urinary health and pelvic floor muscles --

9. Sex and menopause : myths and reality --

The anatomy of desire --

Sexuality at menopause : our cultural inheritance --

Menopause is a time to redefine and update our relationships --

Hormone levels are only one part of libido --

Secondary libidinal support : estrogen and progesterone --

Testosterone : the hormone of desire? --

Aids to lubrication --

Telling the truth --

Ten steps to rekindling libido --

10. Nurturing your brain : sleep, depression, and memory --

Enhancing midlife sleep --

Depression : an opportunity for growth --

Memory loss at menopause : is this Alzheimer's? --

Estrogen and Alzheimer's --

Nonhormonal ways to protect your brain --

Maximizing midlife wisdom --

11. From rosebud to rose hip : cultivating midlife beauty --

Making peace with your changing skin --

Preventing or treating wrinkles --

Midlife acne --

Rosacea --

Hair in the wrong places --

When good skin care isn't enough : deciding on cosmetic procedures --

Varicose veins --

12. Standing tall for life : building healthy bones --

Osteoporosis : the scope of the problem --

We're designed for lifetime sturdiness --

How healthy bone is made --

Are you at risk for osteoporosis? --

Measuring bone density --

Bone-building program --

What about bone-building drugs? --

Get strong --

Healing your fitness past --

The sunlight-bone health connection --

Shore up your Earth connection with plant medicine --

13. Creating breast health --

Our cultural inheritance --

The emotional anatomy of breast cancer --

Lifestyle and breast health --

Eating for breast health --

Breast cancer screening --

Putting breast cancer risk in perspective --

The breast cancer gene : should you be tested? --

The effect of HRT on breast health --

Bioidentical hormones and cancer risk --

The tamoxifen dilemma --

14. Living with heart, passion, and joy : how to listen to and love your midlife heart --

The heart has its say at menopause : my personal story --

Cardiovascular disease : when the flow of life is blocked --

Palpitations : your heart's wake-up call --

Gender bias and heart disease : our cultural inheritance --

Arteriosclerosis : reducing your risk --

Carbohydrates, sugar, and heart health : what every woman should know --

Cardioprotective supplements --

Foods for heart health --

What about aspirin? --

Get moving! --

The heart-estrogen link : what's really going on? --

How to love and respect your midlife heart --

The heart-opening effects of pets --

The intellect is certain it knows, but the heart always wins --

Epilogue : The calm after the storm.