Cholesterol & Perimenopausal Weight Gain
For decades we've been told that if we want to lose weight we need to eat less and exercise more. Unfortunately this doesn't work for women going through the midlife change. Downloads inside.
Research: Lipids and All-Cause Mortality among Older Adults: A 12-Year Follow-Up Study
Adults more than 75 years old with a cholesterol level HIGHER than 200 mg (200 is the target number most doctors try to get you below), had a 24% DECREASE in all cause mortality.
Total cholesterol BELOW 170 was associated with a 60% INCREASE in all cause mortality risk.
LDL cholesterol ABOVE 100 was associated with a 31% DECREASED mortality risk. AND an LDL ABOVE 130 was associated with a 27% DECREASED risk of mortality of all causes.
Here’s the link to read it yourself: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225187059_Lipids_and_All-Cause_Mortality_among_Older_Adults_A_12-Year_Follow-Up_Study
Book Recommendation: Understanding The Heart
Doctor Hussey is a Type 1 diabetic following a carnivore diet. His book had me shoveling in the red meat and butter. Have you ever heard of the 4th phase of water? It’s in here:

We’ve been told for decades that cholesterol is bad, red meat is bad, and saturated fat is unhealthy. This is usually a primary concern for most people.
Here’s the thing though - despite this advice heart disease has continued to climb.
In the early 1900’s heart disease was rare and the American Heart Association was looking at going out of business. Then Proctor & Gamble gave them a sizable donation in exchange for the promotion of Crisco in place of lard.
Saturated fat, animal fats, come with fat soluble vitamins A, E, D, and K2. Vitamin K2 keeps the calcium in your bones and out of your arteries.
We’ve blamed cholesterol because it’s found in arterial plaque but cholesterol isn’t the problem. Inflammation is the problem.
Imagine taking sandpaper to the lining of your arteries. This is what inflammation does. The body tries to heal the wound by repairing the site with cholesterol, white blood cells, and fibrous material.
Do you know what else they find in arterial plaque? PLASTIC… Why isn’t there a mainstream conversation about plastic and arterial plaque??
In this instance follow the money.
Lifestyle & Perimenopausal Weight Gain
For decades we've been told that if we want to lose weight we need to eat less and exercise more. Unfortunately this doesn't work for women going through the change. Downloads below
So what’s a girl to do? Thankfully the answer is easier than you might imagine. First, you don’t want to fall into the CICO (calories in vs calories out) trap. That approach doesn’t work for anyone long term even if they’re not going through menopause.
Calories are not all the same. Biochemically your body does very different things when you eat steak, broccoli, or cookies. Even within a macro such as fat polyunsaturated fats promote weight gain and chronic disease whereas saturated fats contain fat soluble vitamins and support your overall health.
The same is true for carbohydrates and protein but what we often overlook is our lifestyle. There are countless resources available in 2024 for a person to improve their health yet our collective health continues to decline…
Did you know your lifestyle matters just as much, if not more, than exercise when it comes to weight loss?
Here’s the gist: as your estrogen and progesterone begin to decline your adrenal glands should pick up the slack.
Why do they struggle?
Our diet and lifestyle are out of alignment with what our body needs. We’re over stressed, surrounded by fake food, poor sleep, and generally living with our foot on the gas.
This is where a simple lifestyle shift can help support one of life’s big changes.
Whenever we’re stressed, in fight or flight mode, exercise incorrectly, or are running on poor sleep and too much caffeine it puts a stress on our adrenals. This in turn limits your body’s ability to support optimal hormone function.
While nutrition plays a large role in supporting optimal hormonal function there are 7 other lifestyle factors that could make perimenopause more challenging.
I’ve included a couple of tip sheets below you can print to help plan and track your lifestyle habits.
1) Plan what you want to do
2) Use the habit tracker to chart your progress
(I created this book so naturally I’ll earn a percentage if you buy one.)
What’s inside?
Goal setting with videos from Jen | Journal prompts | Symptom & wellness tracking | Monthly goal review | Meal planning | Lifestyle planning | Gratitude | Tracking with the moon | Measurement tracker | Monthly habit tracking
In health,
Jennifer
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