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By the time
women are in their later thirties or early forties, the
aging ovary cannot produce enough progesterone to
maintain balance with the body's estrogen. In essence,
women then have a relative excess of estrogen in
relation to progesterone. This "estrogen dominance"
results in weight gain around the middle.
Learn tips to boost your progesterone level in this
week's article focusing on Estrogen-Progesterone
factor in weight gain vs. loss. In
fitness
Namita |
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Women often avoid upper body and arm exercise because of a fear that lifting
weights will make them look like some huge bodybuilder. In fact, exercising the
arms is a great way to firm up. Toned arms and shoulders will simply make you
look fit. If shoulder and upper arm size increases a little that is a good
thing, especially for larger hipped women, as you will look more balanced.
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The Deepest Fear
Your deepest fear is not that you are inadequate. Your deepest fear is that you
are powerful beyond measure. It is the light, not the darkness that most
frightens you. You might sometime ask yourself, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child
of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
You are all meant to shine, as children do. You were born to make manifest the
glory of God that is within you. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as you let your own light shine, you unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As you are liberated from your own fear, your
presence automatically liberates others.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by
the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So
throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor,
catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover. "
- Mark Twain |
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Baked Tomato and Goat Cheese Tartlets
Makes- 4 servings.
Ingredients
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4 ripe plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
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1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
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Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
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1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
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3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
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3 tsp. sugar, divided
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1/8 tsp. of salt
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2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
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4 tsp. canola oil
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3 Tbsp. ice water (approx.)
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1/4 cup reduced-fat goat cheese
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2 Tbsp. finely minced shallots
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1 Tbsp. reduced-fat milk
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1 tsp. dried basil
Instruction:
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange tomatoes on baking sheet, cut side up,
and rub with olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast for 45
minutes, until tomatoes are barely soft and hold their shape. Set aside, and
decrease oven to 325 degrees.
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In food processor, combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, 2 tsp.
sugar and salt. Pulse a few seconds to combine. Add butter and oil. Pulse
until mixture resembles lumpy crumbs. With food processor running, add ice
water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until dough just starts to come together. Turn
dough out onto wax paper and gently press together, making 5-inch disk. Wrap
dough in wax paper and refrigerate 30 minutes, up to 24 hours.
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If dough is chilled longer than 30 minutes, let sit at room temperature 10
minutes. Place dough between 2 sheets of wax paper and roll out into an
11-inch disk. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. Using a glass as a guide, cut
out four 4-inch rounds of dough and transfer to baking sheet. Prick dough
all over with fork and refrigerate 10 minutes. Bake tartlet rounds 10
minutes. Remove baking pan and increase oven temperature to 375 degrees.
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For filling, in a small bowl, mash together goat cheese, shallots and milk.
Spread one-fourth of cheese on each tartlet round. Top with 2 roasted tomato
halves, cut side up. Sprinkle remaining 1 tsp. sugar and basil over
tomatoes.
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Bake 10 minutes, or until pastry edges are lightly golden. Cheese will look
cracked. Let tartlets stand 10 minutes. Serve warm.
Nutritional Information (Per serving)
250 calories , 12 g total fat (4 g saturated fat), 27 g carbohydrate, 5 g
protein, 2 g dietary fiber, 115 mg sodium.
Courtsey: AICR recipes
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Estrogen-Progesterone factor in weight gain vs. loss
Weight gain in the abdomen is one of the most common
complaints of women whose hormones have begun to change
signaling peri-menopause.
There are a number of factors that contribute to this
phenomenon of weight gain, including:
Hormonal imbalance- By the time women are in
their later thirties or early forties, the aging ovary
cannot produce enough progesterone to maintain balance
with the body's estrogen. In essence, women then have a
relative excess of estrogen in relation to progesterone.
This "estrogen dominance" results in weight gain around
the middle. In general, the midluteal (middle of the
second half of the cycle) progesterone in a non-pregnant
patient is 8 to 10, but can be as high as 20 ng/ml.
Besides, Progesterone has a positive effect on the
thyroid, increasing the activity and stimulating the
utilization of stored fat being used for energy.
The body's inclination to hold onto
estrogen-producing fat cells in midlife- At above
10% body fat your estrogen levels begin to increase and
the more body fat you accumulate the more estrogen you
will have. By consistently staying at 10% body fat or
slightly under, you will not only grow better, but your
muscle maturity will increase over time tremendously.
There is a chemical reason for this. Therefore, now the
extra calories required to gain muscle have a higher
probability of getting stored as fat. Try to stay
between 6-10% body fat. Once 10% body fat is reached,
then one should go on a fat burning phase and get back
down to 6 or 7%. Going up and down in this manner
systematically will give you better muscle and much
better definition over time. When in excess, estrogen
elevates the growth of estrogen sensitive tissues,
causing an increased size of adipose (fat) tissues in
the waist, thighs and other estrogen sensitive fat
tissues. Especially in women one can see the effects in
the belly, lower butt, upper thighs and sometimes in the
back of the arms. Since, our body's hormones have a
direct impact on our appetite, metabolism and fat
storage, during menopause the estrogen levels fall
rapidly causing the body to stop ovulating. As a result,
the ovaries produce less estrogen and the body starts
searching for other places to compensate or fill up for
the deficit. As the fat cells in our body can generate
estrogen, the body works harder to convert calories into
fat to increase estrogen levels. Unlike the muscle cells
in our body, the fat cells don't burn calories, which
causes the accumulation of those unwanted pounds and the
body ends up storing more fat than it used to.
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