Women who are in their menopausal stage are experiencing considerable changes in their bodies. On weight alone, almost all menopausal women will gain an average of ten to fifteen pounds within the entire duration of the menopausal stage. Well, gaining weight is just another one of the several symptoms brought about by the hormonal imbalance which is a characteristic of menopause as a whole.

As medical experts and scientists discover more about the complexity of menopause, a strong relationship between changes in hormonal structures and body fat begin to emerge. When hormonal structures in your body start to alter, two major consequences follow; namely, resistance to insulin and stress. These two factors weigh much in your body's metabolic capacity and the accumulation of fat.

Resistance To Insulin

Insulin, basically, is a hormone that is responsible for regulating your body's ability to breakdown glucose and its overall metabolism. But during the menopausal years, your body may prevent insulin from doing its job. When this happens, you become insulin resistant and all the calories that you have in your body are transformed into fat. It's like your body has provided an express lane for food to instantly become fat without even bothering about giving nutrients to your cells. Overall result: you get a ballooning weight while your cells hunger for nutrients.

Insulin resistance is even worse for women who believe in low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets. All the while, adherents to this kind of diet plan think that avoiding fatty food will spare them from becoming fat. But due to the body's resistance to insulin, every tidbit of carbohydrate is directly turned into fat, so dieting is totally useless.

Experts also believe that most women's dependence on low-fat, high carbohydrate diet for years, with the accompaniment of countless amounts of refined and processed foods like pasta and breads, contribute to insulin resistance. In short, this kind of diet pattern also leads to the blocking of insulin. And the symptoms do not occur until after several years, rather it coincides with the menopausal stage which begins around the age of 40. And so, when you are in this age bracket, you have a bigger chance of being big, literally!

Increased Level Of Stress

Stress can be the root cause for a lot of disorders and conditions. As for your weight, an increased level of stress prompts your body to think that you are experiencing what experts refer to as the famine effect. This phenomenon is your body's misinterpretation of stress and it shifts your body into a hoarding mechanism; meaning, your metabolism is slowed down drastically because your body is anticipating a prolonged shortage in food. When this happens, all the calories that you take in are directly stored as fat which causes you to gain more weight.

Unfortunately, menopause and stress are like peas and carrots. Most women in their menopausal years experience an increased level of stress. Simply put, menopause puts you in a higher risk of gaining unwanted pounds.

The Solution

As always, eating a balanced diet during your menopausal stage is still the best solution to avoid unhealthy weight gain. You must strike off refined and processed foods from your grocery list. Instead, get your fill of fresh fruits and nutritious vegetables.

At the first sign of weight gain, never go on a crash diet as this will only aggravate your body's stress levels and therefore put you in a hoarding mode; besides, crash dieting can also bring you osteoporosis. Instead, you can choose regular exercise to keep your body in shape.

To avoid unwanted pounds and keep your body healthy during your menopausal years, you can also use products like Zalestra that allow you to burn more calories and increase your metabolic rate. For more information about this product, visit www.Zalestra.com.