Kelp Pizza Crust Recipe

As a complement to my most recent Everyday Health article, Kelp: A Natural Remedy for Hot Flashes, I decided to share this Kelp Pizza Crust recipe. The recipe uses kelp powder instead of fresh kelp to make it simpler for landlocked pizza lovers to try it out.


What You'll Need:

• 2 Tablespoons yeast (or 2 packets)
• 1+1/2 cups warm water (about 120 degrees)
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 4 Tablespoons of butter or margarine
• 4-5 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons kelp powder

Kelp Powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine the warm water, sugar, yeast, and butter in a mixing bowl.
3. Stir until the butter melts.
4. Sprinkle in the kelp powder.
5. Stir.
6. Add four cups of flour. The texture of the dough should be stretchy and a bit sticky. Add more flour if needed.
7. Cover the dough and set it in a warm place.
8. Prepare the baking sheets with a layer of butter of shortening.
9. Divide the dough in half.
10. Coat your hands in flour and spread the dough on the baking sheets.
11. Add your favorite toppings and bake for about 20 minutes.

Tip: If you like Alfredo sauce and you're not a vegetarian, this crust turns out very nice with Alfredo sauce and diced chicken.

Natural HRT: Bioidentical Estrogen

Fan

If you are looking for a "mostly natural" hormone replacement therapy option to relieve menopausal symptoms, consider an option such as Bioidentical Estrogen: Natural HRT From the Lab.

There are a number of benefits of this type of HRT, as well as a couple of drawbacks. You can find more information in my most recently published Everyday Health article (link above).

Stir Fry with Soy for Hot Flashes

Since my most recently published Everyday Health article is about the benefits of using soy to relieve the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, I decided to share one of my favorite recipes that include soy, a savory tofu Stir Fry. I use frozen vegetables to cut the prep time.






What You'll Need:

• 12 ounces firm tofu, diced
• 12 ounces broccoli pieces
• 12 ounces carrot slices
• 3 or 4 ounces water chestnut slices or almonds
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
• A wok or large skillet

Instructions:

1. Coat the inside of the wok with olive oil and place it over medium-high heat.
2. Toss the broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts and finally the tofu bits in the hot wok.
3. Stir the ingredients gently for just about five minutes.
4. Sprinkle the sugar and corn starch on top of the partially cooked veggies and tofu.
5. Pour the soy sauce on top of the sugar and stir for about three more minutes ot until the vegetables reach the desired level of tenderness and the sauce thickens just a bit.
6. Eat the stir fry by itself or serve over rice or ramen noodles.

Take Two Aspririns and Stay Away From Teenagers

What else can I say? The title says it all.

Menopause Cramps: How to Relieve Cramps

Menopause brings a lot of changes to a woman's life, and one of those changes can be menopause cramps.This type of cramping can present as a stomach cramp, in your uterus, or even in your back.  Even if you don't - or didn't previously - normally have light to severe menstrual cramping, hormonal fluctuations during menopause can make your body go haywire.

How to Relieve Cramps

(Just a few ways that might help...)

• Localized warmth: Place a heating pad or thermal patch directly above the achy area. As the heat soaks into the cramped area, the pain normally lets up, but not always completely.
• Pain medication: Ibuprofen and herbal pain relief compounds offer fairly quick relief, but if your stomach is sensitive they can cause more discomfort. One of my favorite solutions is a single ibuprofen taken in combination with a localized warmth/heating pad session. When the pain is really severe, it puts me to sleep, but I usually wake up pain-free.
• All-over warmth: Soaking in a tub of warm water offers all-over relief for stomach cramps caused by menstruation during menopause.

If none of these at-home solutions relieve your pain effectively, it might be time to visit a doctor for some help with cramp relief.

New FDA Approved Overactive Bladder Medicine

Overactive Bladder Help

An overactive bladder leaves you feeling anything but healthy or attractive, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug to help. Mirabegron, sold under the name Myrbetriq, helps with uncontrollable bladder muscles, according to a press release.

How Myrbetric Works

Myrbetric works by improving the bladder's storage capacity and relaxing the bladder muscle while filling. This halts uncontrollable and unexpected squeezing. The test group of over 4,000 patients provided information about Mybetric's effectiveness in cutting the number of wetting accidents and the number of daily trips to the restroom.

Here is what this means to patients taking this newly approved bladder control medication:

• Reduced urinary frequency: This means you won't need to run to the restroom as often. It also means you get a good night's sleep, leaving you looking refreshed and healthy because your bladder will not wake you up every couple of hours.
• Reduced urinary urgency: This means you get a bit more warning before you have to go to the restroom.
• Less chance of urinary leakage: This means you do not have to spend as much money on incontinence pads or as much time dealing with unexpected leaks.

If you have an overactive bladder, do not feel alone. In America alone, about 33 million people suffer from this condition. At best, dealing with bladder issues leaves individuals frustrated. At worst, the condition becomes debilitating.

The pre-approval study did find a few side effects associated with taking Myrbetric including:

• Increased blood pressure
• Common cold-like symptoms, called nasopharyngitis
• Urinary tract infection
• Constipation
• Fatigue
• Elevated heart rate, called tachycardia
• Abdominal pain

Not all overactive bladder patients can take Myrbetriq. According to the FDA, patients with severe, uncontrolled high blood pressure, end stage kidney disease, and severe liver impairment should avoid this medication.

Hey Hubbies: Dealing With Menopause Fat and Cranky Style

Dealing With Menopause

I named this blog Fat and Cranky sort of as an example of what I believe the reverse of menopause has to be. In other words, my point is, it can make you feel fat and cranky, but it doesn't have to.

When the people who are supposed to be your support system fail you, though, they probably shouldn't be too shocked when the cranky part kicks in. (Did ya hear that hubbies?)

Here's the deal. Maybe, just maybe, the menopausal woman in your life isn't just getting cranky for the fun of it. Maybe it's not that she's a b!tch like you like to call her. Maybe she's just getting tired of you.

In fact, if you are the kind of person who has EVER called her or ANY woman a b!tch, then you probably deserve to be on the blunt end of a b!tch-fit.

A menopausal woman is not cranky and is not a b!tch. She is a grown up who does not need to be saddled with a person who does not understand the difference between a physical condition and b!tchiness.

Deal with that, you failed support systems!

(I in no way mean to imply that the man in the image is a failed support system and I'm sure he has never called a woman nay of the things mentioned above. I just loved this MorgueFile picture of a frustrated man.)

Keeping Cool When Temperatures Soar and you Are Having Hot Flashes

Hyper-Kewl Evaporative Cooling Neck Band
3-Pack

I found an inexpensive product I really love that helps cool me off quickly, and I want to share. This is a non-medicine solution, and it works almost instantly.

I picked up a cooling neckerchief, bandana type thing at the dollar store (You can get them on Amazon, too if you don't feel like driving around looking for one at the dollar store.). That's right, learning about this fast relief for hot flashes tip cost me a whole $1.07 (tax included of course.)

These things have a few tiny beads stitched into them, but then you soak them and the beads swell up to fill the entire neck area..

I soak the neckerchief in cold water and wrap it around my neck. It actually gives off a cold relief for a couple hours before it needs to be resoaked.

Here is my favorite little tip, other than the one about using this inexpensive method to cool hot flashes, I put the cooling bandana in a zipper seal baggie with a couple tablespoons of cold water when I'm in a hurry.

Then I let the crystals in the bandana soak up all the excess water and wrap the neckerchief around my neck when it's ready.

I don't think I would like this solution for night sweats, though. It seems as if it would get the pillow all wet, so I have only tried this for daytime and evening use.