Hormonal changes and shifts in a woman’s body are as inevitable as life itself, and most will go unnoticed. However, when the body is out of balance, hormonal changes can wreak havoc on a woman’s everyday life; the greater the imbalance, the greater the disturbances. As women get closer to perimenopause and ultimately, menopause, these changes can take on many forms:

• Fluctuating menstrual cycles
• Hot flashes, sometimes accompanied by palpitations and profuse sweating and lasting anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. 50-80% of women experience this.
• Night sweats
• Swelling
• Weight gain
• Constipation
• Menstrual cramps
• Restless nights
• Mood swings

These are just a few signs that let you know your body is dealing with waste that it can no longer control or release.

Lasting seven years on average, perimenopause signals the beginning of the end of a woman’s ability to conceive children: ovulation becomes sporadic and estrogen levels fluctuate. My years of practice have shown that a woman’s perimenopause can last up to fifteen years. I’ve often found that the reason for this lies in the body’s inability to release waste efficiently.

But why? Menopause is a natural process and as such, should be experienced harmoniously. Unfortunately, we have come to accept these disturbances as normal. We chalk them up as the inevitable and necessary evils of growing older. It should not be so.

Most of What Goes in, Must Come Out

To regenerate, humans – like every other living creature – must eat. Food, once ingested, is broken down, absorbed and transformed. Cells keep the necessary nutrients before rejecting the rest as waste which then travels to the body’s designated organs for elimination. When the body is in an ideal state of balance – also called homeostasis – our skin, kidneys, colon and lungs join forces to rid the body of its waste products. When these organs and the body become overwhelmed, the rest of the body pitches in to help: wax buildup in the ears, increased perspiration through the skin, excess mucous in the nose and bad breath. Women’s bodies have additional exit strategies: the uterus can store toxins and eliminate them monthly through menstruation. Heavy or darker-colored flows (some even black) along with vaginal itching or vaginitis are signs of a heavy toxic load.

These exit strategies are undoubtedly efficient but only in the short term. When they become the norm for weeks, or even years, they compromise the body’s natural ability to handle toxins while simultaneously placing a heavy load on other organs such as your liver. The liver is the first to respond when hormones are out of balance and a lifetime of bad digestion, stress and negative thinking will further weaken it.

What Happens Exactly?

The body’s hormonal balance is largely influenced by estrogen and progesterone, our sexual hormones. It is vital to understand that when our bodies eliminate efficiently and when we eat healthy foods and exercise regularly, menopause should be an easy transition with very little upset. However, when this is not the case, there’s a waste buildup.

Hormonal imbalances are the direct consequence of too much estrogen in the body. Estrogen, an acidic hormone, enables the elimination of waste. Her “partner”, progesterone, is an alkaline hormone that helps maintain the estrogen levels, which in turn maintains balance in the body. Ovaries and adrenal glands are responsible for producing progesterone and when it is present in sufficient quantities, balance is maintained.

This balance is challenged when a woman reaches menopause. As the ovaries age, they slowly but surely decrease production. Adrenal glands compensate by taking over production and the liver, already struggling because of our cumulative toxic habits, will have trouble maintaining the overall hormonal balance. As the menstrual cycle slows, and eventually stops, the body can no longer use this exclusively feminine exit to remove the toxins causing the estrogen levels to rise dangerously along with the level of acidity in the body.

At this point, the body deploys its emergency measures to protect its vital organs by stocking the toxins in the body’s ideal storage facility: fat. Since the body no longer knows how to release the toxins, it will “seal” them safely inside the fat stores waiting for exits to clear, thus releasing its toxic load. These stagnating toxins, wrapped in fatty tissue, are the cysts and eventually, the cancers of tomorrow.

These stagnating toxins, wrapped in fatty tissue, are the cysts and eventually, the cancers of tomorrow.

Iodine to the Rescue

To maintain balance, whether in the nervous system or the homeostasis of the body and blood, etc., the body can keep estrogen levels in check by having sufficient stores of iodine.*

Usually stocked in the thyroid, iodine also settles in the breasts, ovaries and uterus. When iodine stores are depleted or missing, estrogen will quickly fill up the unoccupied space. That is how cysts, lumps and fibroids form.

Before we can restock our body’s iodine supplies, we need to start with the basics: Clean, assimilate, eliminate and rebuild both the thyroid and the adrenal glands. Detoxifying the body will allow iodine to settle in the breasts, uterus and ovaries. Once the estrogen is out, breast and lump size will decrease.

Restoring Hormonal Balance

One way to restore hormonal balance is to restore the efficiency of our digestive system, more specifically our colon: our body’s main exit, handling 70% of all the body’s waste. A virtual highway complete with an elaborate digestive network that can fill up with potholes and detours when our hormones get thrown off balance.

A great way is the Gerson Therapy: an extraordinary asset for the menopausal woman. It floods the body with amazing nutrients, cleans the blood, restores balance (homeostasis), alkalizes the body and rids it of waste. Waste removal is amped up with coffee enemas, supplements and enzymes to support digestion, and iodine to restore and boost the thyroid.

Once hormonal balance is restored, menopause becomes a beautiful transition in a woman’s life…as it should be.

*The iodine referenced in this article is in the form of potassium iodide and iodine solution often referred to as Lugol’s solution. It does not refer to iodine added to table salt.

If you would like a picture of your hormone balance, a Female Comprehensive Hormone Panel is available. Talk to your doctor for a referral, or research independent laboratories in your area. We recommend discussing results with your Certified Gerson Practitioner or managing physician.

Annie Juneau, GPCR, ND Gerson Practitioner Chief Resident Quebec, Canada

Visit our Certified Gerson Practitioner page for a referral to a Certified Gerson Practitioner or Gerson Practitioner Chief Resident like Annie.

Written by: Annie Juneau, GPCR, ND
Post by: Nicole Ferrer-Clement

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