Leah called me for a phone session because she was menopausal and was having a very hard time losing weight. She had gained 12 pounds and was unhappy about it.

"Everything I used to do doesn't work anymore," she told me. "I used to be able to cut back on my food for a few days or a week and lose 5 pounds. Now nothing happens. Even with exercise. I don't know what to do."

I am not a nutritionist - I am an author and an Inner Bonding facilitator. However, health and nutrition have been favorite subjects for me for the last 61 years. And I'm also an older woman who encountered the very same problem with weight as Leah.
 

So, I want to share with you what has worked for me and for many other older women (as well as young women and men) I've worked with.

• As we age, we need MUCH less food, and this can be challenging. I had to accept that my body needs much less food than before menopause. I don't know how it works, but I still have tons of energy eating much less food. It took awhile to accept this, as I love food, but now it seems normal to not eat much.
   
• The food you eat needs to be nutritionally dense, and preferably organic, to maintain weight and health. This means lots and lots of vegetables. Vegetables are the most nutrient dense food there is, so to lose or maintain weight, we needs lots of veggies. Some people do well on a vegetarian or vegan diet, while others need animal protein, so you need to tune into your body and see what works for you.
   
• It is vitally important to stay connected with your feelings and to learn to connect with your personal source of spiritual guidance. If you are accustomed to filling your loneliness and emptiness with food, now is a great time to learn to fill it with love, which comes from your source. If you have previously not learned how to take loving care of yourself, now is a great time to learn. You will likely not be able to eat less and in a very healthy way if you do not learn how to take full responsibility for your own feelings. So, essential to health is practicing Inner Bonding.


• Health, rather than weight, needs to be what motivates you. Creating vibrant health is so important as we grow older, at least it is for me. I love being healthy and I want to live to a healthy old age, without chronic degenerative diseases. The only way to do this is to make sure that what goes into your body is nutrient dense and not loaded with chemicals, and that what goes into your mind is loving to you. My rule of thumb regarding what I eat is: if they didn't eat it 200 years ago, I don't eat it now.


• And finally, exercise. It is vital to find exercise that you love to do and do it daily. It can be a fast walk in nature, or dancing, or a sport, but you need to be consistent about it. And you won't be consistant about it if you don't love it.

That's it! At 83 I have more energy that I did at 20, and I got sick far more often at 20 than I do now!

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