Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 50: Including Weight Loss Strategies, Motivational Approaches, and Hormone Balancing Tips

By Kerry Gene

Unlock the transformative potential of Intermittent Fasting (IF) to optimize hormonal balance, shed excess weight and enhance overall vitality as you navigate your 50s and beyond!
In this inspiring, evidence-based book, Kerry Gene walks you through each step of the journey to make IF simple, effective and even enjoyable.
After reading this book, you'll understand:
• The inevitable hormonal changes that happen in your body as you enter menopause and beyond
• Benefits of Intermittent Fasting (IF) as a "fixer" to remedy menopause-related hormonal imbalances
• The science behind IF's ability to activate key anti-aging and detox processes
• The motivation and mindset shifts needed to make IF a sustainable lifestyle
• The most popular IF protocols, together with the pros and cons of each
• Practical strategies for finding your ideal fasting window, breaking unhealthy eating patterns, and maximizing nutrition during your eating windows
• The pivotal role of mindset in Intermittent Fasting
• Strategies for supercharging your IF--and common mistakes to avoid
• Bonus recipes, inspiring pep talks, and much more!
Whether you're facing a personal health battle or simply wanting to improve overall health, this book provides the tools to take back control of your story. Tap into the rejuvenating power of Intermittent Fasting to look and feel your best!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vitality Code Press
• Release date: Apr 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9798893400540

Book preview

Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 50

Including Weight Loss Strategies, Motivational Approaches, and Hormone Balancing Tips

Kerry Gene

Vitality Code Press

Copyright © 2024 by Kerry Gene

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Contents

1.When Aging and Hormones Collide

2.Intermittent Fasting (IF) as the Ultimate Fixer

3.The Golden Keys to Success

4.Swallow that Turtle!

5.Choosing How—and How Long—You Will Fast

6.The Easiest Way to Get Started

7.Harness the Two Fasting Superpowers

8.Maximize Your Feasting Window

9.Foods that Hinder or Hurt

10.Smart Strategies to Supercharge your IF

Appendix: Bonus Recipes

Endnotes

Chapter 1

When Aging and Hormones Collide

Don’t get old. It’s not any fun. Grandma Lisa told me years ago. If only I had known!

There were other things coming down the pike Grandma Lisa didn’t mention. Personal things that women mostly swept under the rug in those days. For me, the initial lady surprises began rather early in life.

The first inclination I had about what it meant to be a woman was when, at the tender age of eleven, Aunt Flo paid an unwelcome visit. Before then, I thought a period was simply a dot at the end of a sentence. Until it wasn’t.

I was calmer than one of my classmates, who let out a blood-curdling scream when Aunt Flo appeared. She truly thought she was dying! Too shy to mumble the truth, my friends and I used girl-speak code (friend, Charlie, monthly curse) to let each other—and our moms—know when that time of the month came around.

Puberty in Reverse

Unfortunately, my lack of knowledge about hormonal matters struck again 40 years later. It was a busy time. As a wife, mom, career woman, and more, my life was packed to the brim. Menopause was the last thing on my mind. Until Aunt Flo roared into town for an extended and unpleasant visit…

A year earlier, I had chosen to ignore whatever significance might have come with my 50th birthday.

It’s just another year, I fooled myself. If I had known everything that would fall apart after that milestone, it would have been much more upsetting!

How did things fall apart? Let me count the ways…

I became allergic to pretty much everything.

My ankles swelled so badly that friends wondered if I had congestive heart failure.

When I breathed at night, my chest squeaked loudly enough to keep me awake.

Exhausted and lethargic, I dragged myself through the days.

Then there was the bleeding. Aunt Flo didn’t just come to visit. She moved in and unpacked her bags!

There was probably more, but thanks to the menopausal brain fog that came with the experience. I (quite happily) don’t remember it all!

I never enjoyed that time of the month. A ritual to be endured, it made me feel moody, yucky, and grumpy. But now, in my 50s, it wasn’t just a time. It was weeks on end! In addition to being miserable, I grew dizzy and weak. Losing that much blood on a regular basis was not a positive thing!

To add insult to injury, I piled on more weight. Five feet, four inches tall, I had carried extra poundage since a miscarriage 25 years earlier. Now, with hormones gone crazy, I packed 40 more pounds onto my hips, belly, thighs, and anyplace else that could hold it. At the height of its glory, my medium-sized frame, which was built to carry 115 pounds, was hauling 265. I visited several doctors during that challenging time, but I was in a gap between jobs with no health insurance, which wasn’t helpful at all. I had some money in the bank, but the doctor’s offices I talked to weren’t willing to perform the procedure that might have been useful unless I had health insurance. Having enough money to pay for the procedure itself didn’t seem to matter in this case. I was too rich (and probably proud) to seek financial help, and too poor for top medical care.

How I wish I’d known then what I do now about sidestepping or at least minimizing the time of life symptoms. Things would have been so much easier!

The good news is that, since those fateful early fifties, my journey back to good health has been long but successful. Now in my early 60s, I feel better—and weigh much less—than I did 15 years ago. Having learned so many things the hard way, I now wish to share them with you. It is my sincere hope that this book will be helpful to many.

Hormones Wreaking Havoc

What I wish I had known was the havoc that hormonal imbalances, unrecognized and unaddressed, can wreak in our bodies as grow older. In this process, we women have about fifty unique hormones that play differing—but extremely important—roles.¹

Hormones are chemical messengers that regulate and trigger bodily functions such as growth and development, metabolism, reproductive processes, and mood. Of the scores of hormones cruising around our physiques, eight play especially crucial roles in how we feel—and look—during menopause.²

Three of those hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) diminish naturally as we age.³ It’s inevitable. If you are a woman and make it into your 50s, it will happen to you. Intricately associated with the other hormones in our bodies, these Big Three tend to set off chain reactions as they decline. Following is a quick overview of the top hormones, together with their weight loss and menopause-related impact:

Hormone #1: Estrogen

The most important female sex hormone, estrogen regulates many important functions in a woman’s body.⁴ During menopause, estrogen levels drop as the body gradually stops producing eggs. Diminishing estrogen levels just before and during menopause can trigger numerous unpleasant bodily changes. Weight-related symptoms of low estrogen levels include:

Decreased efficiency of the hormones that regulate fullness and appetite (leptin and neuropeptide Y).⁵

An increased desire for high-fat, sugary foods.⁶

A shift in body fat storage from the hips and thighs to the abdomen.⁷

Mood swings, depression, anger, and/or irritability.⁸

Negative self-image.⁹

Declining bone density levels (since estrogen regulates calcium storage).¹⁰

Loss of muscle tone, as the absence of estrogen impacts the quality and amount of muscle fiber.¹¹

A reduced brain capacity to consume glucose, resulting in slower brain function.¹²

A decrease in Human Growth Hormone (HGH) levels.¹³ (Reduced HGH levels can lead to low libido, inferior skin quality, and/or increased belly fat).¹⁴

Although many menopausal symptoms are related to falling estrogen levels, others may be caused by a hormonal imbalance between estrogen and progesterone known as estrogen dominance.¹⁵ This imbalance, which has become increasingly common in women of all ages, can also lead to weight gain.¹⁶

Hormone #2: Progesterone

Progesterone has been called the pregnancy hormone, and rightly so. If you break the word progesterone into parts, here’s what it means:

So there you have it. Progesterone is a chemical compound (in this case a hormone) that promotes carrying a baby! During a woman's childbearing years, progesterone prepares the uterus to accept, implant, and maintain a fertilized egg. This important hormone also prevents muscle contractions in the uterus which, in its absence, would cause the woman's body to reject the egg.

Like estrogen, this key hormone begins to decline as menopause approaches.¹⁷ The weight-related impact of diminishing progesterone levels includes:

Thyroid health challenges¹⁸

Sleep disturbances¹⁹

The dread brain fog²⁰

Water retention²¹

Hormone #3: Testosterone

Though usually associated with men, testosterone is also present in women—just in smaller amounts.²² As women age, declining levels of this important hormone may lead to:

Changes in body composition, including an increase in body fat and a decrease in muscle mass²³

Fatigue²⁴

Decreased libido,²⁵ and

Mood swings.²⁶

The Hunger Hormones

As if the hormonal havoc wreaked by declining estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels wasn’t enough, another set of hormones (related to appetite regulation) also leap into the post-forties hormonal fray. When working properly, the job of these appetite-controlling hormones includes:

Helping regulate hunger and satiety (the feeling of fullness) in the body, and

Sending messages to the brain that manage intake of food.

Though ghrelin is often known as the Hunger Hormone, all three of the hormones described below (ghrelin, leptin, and insulin) could qualify for that title since they help control both food intake and metabolism:

Hunger Hormone #1: Ghrelin (rhymes with melon)

One of the most important hormones involved in hunger signaling, ghrelin increases the sensation of hunger in a woman’s body by activating the brain’s hypothalamus.²⁷ The stomach secretes ghrelin when it is empty, so ghrelin levels (which are high before eating) drop after a meal.²⁸

As long as ghrelin signals are balanced, hunger stays under control. Unfortunately, declining estrogen levels lead to increased levels of ghrelin.²⁹ This is bad news in terms of weight management since ghrelin stimulates appetite. In addition to dropping estrogen levels, lost or poor sleep (another bane of the menopausal years) can also trigger higher levels of ghrelin—and with it more feelings of hunger.³⁰ The presence of excess cortisol (the stress hormone) also raises levels of ghrelin, thereby encouraging the desire to overeat.³¹

Hunger Hormone #2: Leptin

Leptin, which is produced by the body’s fat cells, is like a calorie counter for the brain. When leptin levels are high, the brain gets a signal that the body has enough energy stored away. It responds by suppressing appetite while increasing energy usage.³²

The good news is that women in their 50s are thought to have higher levels of leptin than premenopausal women. The bad news is that the brain’s response to leptin appears (in Western societies eating a diet high in processed foods) to impair with age.³³ When leptin is impaired, the appetite suppression signals to the brain, together with messages to use more energy, are decreased. Worse yet, the body, which is unable to burn fat under such circumstances, stores it instead.

Leptin resistance, as this unhappy condition is called, is caused by chronic inflammation. Obesity and insulin resistance, which are both related to chronic inflammation, can make the problem of leptin resistance even worse.³⁴,³⁵,³⁶

Leptin levels are also disturbed by sleep deprivation. One group of researchers, after tracking a group of subjects who were getting less than 5 hours of sleep per night, found a 16% decrease in leptin and a 15% increase in ghrelin in research participants.³⁷ Obviously, a plummet in the hormone that tells your body I’m full, plus a spike in the hormone that hollers I'm hungry, is a catastrophic recipe for packing on pounds!

Leptin works especially well in the body when estrogen and progesterone levels are balanced. When other hormones get out of kilter, however, leptin acts up as well.³⁸

Hunger Hormone #3: Insulin

As a hormone, insulin’s job is to escort glucose released from food to the body’s cells where it’s burned as energy. Every time you eat, your glucose (blood sugar) levels increase. In response, your pancreas releases insulin which is then distributed to your cells.

As women age, the natural decline in estrogen triggers a tendency toward higher blood sugars and lower energy levels.³⁹ (Estrogen, when present in adequate amounts, helps optimize insulin levels.) A diet high in refined carbs, sugars, processed foods and/or alcohol magnifies any age-related blood sugar swings.⁴⁰ In time, as our ability to process large amounts of insulin deteriorates, the quantity of processed foods required to trigger a reaction becomes less and less. Here how it works:

Depending on the person and meal, it takes about 6-8 hours for food to pass out of the stomach and into the small intestine.⁴¹

Most women don’t wait that long between meals.

Before the energy from the previous meal is used up, a new batch of glucose arrives—creating an energy surplus.

The body stores this excess energy as fat, and, over time, the body becomes insulin resistant.

This insulin resistance disrupts estrogen metabolism and other hormonal balances, with many unpleasant results.

Weight gain is only one of the unhappy side effects of the slide towards insulin resistance. Alzheimer’s, breast cancer, dementia, diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis have also been linked to this bane of the Standard American Diet (SAD).⁴²

If you are starting to feel discouraged at this point, don’t give up. There is light at the end of this chapter, and much more in this book. You need to know this information just to fully grasp how and why intermittent fasting addresses hormonal and other health issues.

Other Important Hormones

Other hormones that have an important impact on women as they enter their 50s include:

Cortisol (the Stress Hormone)

If you’re running from a stampeding elephant (or other large creature), your body will pump out cortisol—and plenty of it—to energize your life-or-death race. Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone. Where there’s stress, there will be cortisol.⁴³ Of itself, cortisol is not a bad thing. A certain amount is needed to maintain circadian rhythms and even wake you up in the morning.⁴⁴

Trouble arises, however, when the body views your entire life as one huge and very dangerous rhinoceros rumble! When cortisol is continually high, blood sugar levels elevate as well. High cortisol levels impair insulin’s ability to