HI All,

I want to write about how this program has helped me with menopause. I took a wonderful class that Kathleen offered a few years ago and learned a lot. This is kind of a follow up report on how it's going.

I've had hot flashes all along. I suspect they are constitutional and just something to accept. I tried soy and that didn't help. The help here from RR is that I accept them.

I've had very few if any emotional issues, depression, etc. I think this is a direct result of RR. No blood sugar problems either.

I gained weight, about 3 pounds a year for the first 3 years. This concerned me because I'm a competitive runner and triathlete and didn't want to get too heavy to run without injury. I didn't want to diet or cut out food or change my program, so I just tried to be grateful that I was still healthy and strong and hope that the weight gain would stop at some point.

I also had stomach trouble, developed silent reflux according to my acupuncturist. He suggested eating earlier in the evening and cutting out acidic foods, which I did. My husband and I would often come back after workouts and eat dinner at 8:30 or 9 PM, and we'd eat a big meal because we were hungry. After menopause this wasn't working.

I started eating between 5 and 6:00 and working my workouts around my food. I learned this from RR for sure! I can bike within an hour of eating but not run. So I run earlier in the day in general now. If we do an evening track workout I eat a small meal in the late afternoon and a small snack immediately after the workout. Sometimes this means I go to bed slightly hungry. I'm finding out to my surprise (thank you journal) that it's actually beneficial for me to go to bed hungry (not starving or I can't sleep). Now I'm not bothered by poor digestion, and my sleep is much better.

I found out that eating regular breakfast and lunch and smaller and earlier dinner stopped the weight gain, fixed my poor digestion and improved my sleep. I haven't cut out any type of program food like browns or fats, and my race performance, while a little slower due to age, is still pretty good. I wasn't ready to tweak my program in the beginning of menopause, but a few years later things feel more stable inside, and I"m happy with the results.

Just passing this on for anyone who is interested. Thank you Kathleen as always for this amazing healing program.

JoEllen