Taboo Talk

I awoke this morning feeling pretty refreshed. I took a Benedrel and an Advil just before going to sleep last night. My head seems to be getting better. I still have a light headed feeling, but no vertigo. Trace and I went on a walk yesterday morning. I think getting out and about helped me a lot. We did some other running around after that, making a quick run to Sprout's. Wayne and I are both trying to shed some pounds, so I am fixing really healthy meals and cutting our portions. Wayne told me a story last night about a delivery guy that he sees at work. The guy is a little shorter than Wayne, but much bigger around. They were comparing their weight and Wayne was astonished to hear that he weighs more than this guy. That was a no brainer to me......I told him......it's because muscle weighs more than fat. Luckily Wayne is still pretty active at work and gets in some physical activity there, cause he just won't do anything with me at home.....remember our walks, they didn't last but a few weeks and he was done with them. I get so irritated that with just a little effort he could shed those unwanted pounds, where as with me, I diet and exercise and .......NOTHING, ZIP, NADA, not one pound lost. I can't diet like I did when I was young. I feel my old body needs the nutrition and if I did go on a fast all it would do is make me lose what muscle tone I have.....see, it's danged if you do and danged if you don't. I do notice than when I cut the fat intake of my foods I have fewer hot flashes and they are less intense. I had one hot flash during last nights sleep and it wasn't until early this morning. I didn't get nearly as hot and it only lasted a few seconds. I like that. I often wonder about those hot flashes......do THEY burn calories??? Your body is working...steaming up like that, surely they burn calories.....not that I want to have enough hot flashes to lose the weight I need to..... heck, I'd rather be a little over weight than suffer through those dang things. Anyway, I am trying real hard to think up good tasting, nutritional things for us to eat. I could totally go on a Lean Cuisine diet. I like most of them and my portion is already figured for me. I can know exactly how much fat and calories I am taking in with each meal. It's just like the Jenny Craig or the Nutra system diets, it's just portioned out meals that are cooked in a less fatty way. Now, if you want the comradery or the weigh in's to help you, you will have to seek out the highly advertised groups. I want to ask a question.......why is it that of all the women I know that are around my age and I KNOW must be going thru the change, just like me, never talk about it. I have not had one discussion with friends or family members about the changes going on in our bodies and how it is affecting our lives. Is menapause still a taboo subject....things women don't talk about? I hear all the talk on TV and have heard and read all the jokes about it, but where are my menapausel sisters....why aren't we sharing our stories with each other.....maybe, we could enlighten each other with little tid bits of how we cope with our changing bodies and minds. Is it that you just don't want to think about it....WHAT IS IT?????? I want some feed back. Surely, I'm not the only 50 something woman experiencing these symptoms, who is willing to talk about it. I can remember as a young girl hearing stories of women who went thru the change and.....lost their minds......hey, I can relate to that. Other than horrifying tales like that, I never heard any of the women in my family speak of menapause or the symptoms it brings on. I had two grandmothers, but didn't know their menapause stories. They are both gone now. My Mother had cervical cancer as a young women in her 30's and survived it thru radiation, but the treatment caused her to go thru the change at that age. She was never on hormones or anything.......again, as close as she and I became, we never talked about what that had done to her physically or mentally. This is a common bond that we as women share, each of us having our own take on it. I have told my story, quite openly. I feel, menapause is just another stage of life that has it's rewards as well as it's pitfalls. I want to embrace each and every stage of this life, take from it the lessons we need to learn and use those lessons to enrich the remainder of our time on this earth. We are in it together, most of us experiencing much of the same things. It's comforting to know we are not alone in our journeys. Talk to me people!!! Till next time.