Category Archives: Natural & Alternative Health

Discuss Hormone Balance and Peri-Menopause when you are 35

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First Published in September 2013 at: http://menopausemission.com/discuss-hormone-balance-and-peri-menopause-when-you-are-35

Suzanne Somers was on Good Morning America (GMA) a few days ago talking about the importance of women looking after their hormones and keeping them in check. Suzanne has been an amazing advocate of women’s health and wellness and has just released a new book aimed at women from 35 to 50 who think they are too young to be thinking about hormones and menopause. In it she also talks a lot about Natural Hormone Therapy, a controversial topic for many. She cleverly titled her new book, “I’m Too Young for This!” You are never too young to talk about your hormones, each generation has their issues with them, but what you do with that information is more important.  Continue reading →

Reflexology for Decreasing Menopause Symptoms

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First published in June 2013 at: http://menopausemission.com/reflexology-for-decreasing-menopause-symptoms

Are you going through menopause changes and are so overwhelmed with trying to get in touch with your body that you don’t know where to begin?  Consider going to a reflexologist or trying a few reflexology methods on your own.  Reflexology provides the opportunity to work on trigger points that can influence hot flushes by working on points connected to the thyroid and pituitary glands, nerve and blood supply for better circulation, as well as organs such as the uterus, the ovaries, and liver that can affect your hormone levels.  Touching these trigger points may get you more in touch with which menopause symptoms your body is most sensitive to. Continue reading →

Keep Endocrine Disruptors from Entering your Cosmetics by signing this Petition

Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

The Environmental Working Group – EWG has a petition for people to sign to keep endocrine disruptors from being put into the cosmetics by Revlon and L’Oreal, which can do a number on your hormones and create a number of health issues. Let’s tell the industry that we respect our bodies and want them to be treated with care and kindness by signing this petition asking them to find better ingredients for their products

Click here to sign:  http://action.ewg.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=2044&tag=201309CorsmeticsCorpFWDAction&utm_source=201309cosmeticscorpfwdaction&utm_medium=email&utm_content=topper1&utm_campaign=toxics

 

Heart Health During and After Menopause

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First Published in April 2013 at: http://menopausemission.com/heart-health-during-and-after-menopause

You suffered for years with hot flashes, crazy constant weight gain and loss, unpredictable mood swings, and finally your menopause symptoms are beginning to stop. You spent years increasing your exercise regime and following a healthier lifestyle to decrease your menopause symptoms, and now you are at the home stretch, getting better sleep, not snapping at the tiniest irritations coming from your family, and feeling close to your normal self again. Ahhhh, time to celebrate with a piece of chocolate cake!   Continue reading →

Spring Clean Your Body & Balance Your Hormones with a Little Dandelion

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First published in March 2013 at: http://menopausemission.com/spring-clean-your-body-balance-your-hormones-with-a-little-dandelion

Dandelion
Dandelion

When you were a child I’m sure at some point when you saw dandelions you probably thought of them as a weed your parents hated seeing in their grass, but you loved it when they dried so you could blow all the seeds away into the wind like most kids…. I on the other hand, as a first-generation Greek kid, grew up with parents who didn’t use weed killer on them, but dug them up from the grass and used the leaves as food.  Sometimes we would even venture off into the cattle farm-land outside our home city and raid the edges of farmer’s fields in the spring time and relieve them of all their dandelions.  We would collect so many grocery bags full of these dandelion leaves that we would clean and freeze whatever we couldn’t eat by the end of the week, so we would have them throughout the year.   Continue reading →

Hormone Disruptors in your Personal Care Products and the Effects on your Body

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First published in February 2013 at – http://menopausemission.com/hormone-disruptors-in-your-personal-care-products-and-the-effects-on-your-body

In my previous article, Exercise for Better Menopausal Health, I wrote about how hormones are affected during menopause and the importance of exercise to release toxins from the body, as well as get the body’s hormone levels back in balance to decrease and prevent a number of symptoms of menopause.  Your body’s hormone levels are so unpredictable when you don’t take an active role in keeping them in balance, which could lead to extreme reactions in your body such as severe depression and weight gain.  Although we can’t control the toxins in the air we breathe that can affect hormone levels, we can control the toxins, chemicals, and hormone disruptors that can get in our bodies when it comes to choosing cosmetics, face and body creams, as well as soap and bath products.   Continue reading →

Menopausal Healthy Holiday Season

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First published in December 2012 at – http://menopausemission.com/menopausal-healthy-holiday-season

You’ve been trying to get control over all the changes your body is going through and now it’s the holiday season and you are overwhelmed with the thought that eating healthy and finding ways to exercise and relax are out of the question this holiday season.  Don’t fret, there are a few things you can do amongst the chaos of the holiday season to help you from going overboard and help you ease into the New Year without feeling completely guilty that you overindulged.  Remember getting your body in balance does not happen overnight and certainly is not easy to begin over the holiday season. Here is where you can begin your first steps:   Continue reading →

Effort and Patience – The Crucial Keys to Menopausal Health

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First published at www.menomission.com in November 2012  http://menopausemission.com/effort-and-patience-the-crucial-keys-to-menopausal-health

This is the first of a series on changing your life step by step during menopause. Look for the next article, Menopausal Healthy Holiday Season.

How serious are you about feeling better and overcoming the physical, mental and psychological changes that go along with menopause? This is the question you have to ask yourself, and if you truly want to feel good again, keep reading. If you are going to be selective and not going to put in the effort to work on every aspect of your life stop reading here, don’t waste your time, you are likely to continue feeling bad. There are no short cuts to a healthy life, so know that when you put 100% effort in getting your body in balance you will see results. You just need a little patience, results will not be seen overnight.   Continue reading →

Meditation for a Balanced Life

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First Published at http://menopausemission.com/author/constadina-vasiliades/page/2         September 2012

Far too often when people hear the word “meditation” images of a toga-draped Buddhist sitting in an incense-filled room chanting “OM” comes to mind, but the main goal of meditation is in fact to shut off the mind and focus on breathing.  Our daily lives consist of a variety of stresses leading to us unconsciously holding our breath when we feel tension. This briefly prevents oxygen from getting to our brains, sometimes making us dizzy, confused, and disoriented, and sometimes more stressed.  Stress has a major effect on our hormones and when you are at the stage in your life where you are either about to enter menopause or already going through it, adding one more factor to change your hormone levels can in fact influence how your body copes with various menopause symptoms.   Continue reading →

Eating the Right Greek Yogurt During Menopause

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

First published on http://menopausemission.com/eating-the-right-greek-yogurt-during-menopause  October 2012

Yogurt is a popular food to eat for maintaining strong healthy bones.  The popularity of Greek yogurt over the last five years has skyrocketed, but unfortunately some companies claiming to sell traditional Greek strained yogurt in fact are serving a product that does not align with the way pure traditional Greek strained yogurt is actually made. Being Greek, this begins to become insulting, especially growing up with the real thing, knowing the proper flavor and ingredients.  Some of these yogurts are not making people healthy, but are contributing to their health issues.  Don’t assume because a label says it’s a “Greek” yogurt that it’s healthy.  Make sure you read the ingredients of your yogurt before purchasing; otherwise you will be buying a product that will in fact agitate and worsen your menopausal symptoms.  For some, even a pure traditional Greek strained yogurt on its own can actually increase hot flash symptoms.   Continue reading →

Workstation Health – Keeping optimum health in front of your computer

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

When you spend half your day in your office space  or home computer you want to be comfortable and safe.  This is an article I wrote a few years back that makes sure the stress of your work doesn’t make you forget about looking after your health.

Download (PDF, 58KB)

 

Baked Okra with a Feta and Olive Appetizer – Family Recipe

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Recipe by Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

This vegetarian meal is a very popular dish in Greece, particularly during a religious fast and through the summer season.  It’s easy to make and I’ve provided a family recipe that was published a few years back in Metohos Magazine.  I find that most Greek dishes cooked in a tomato sauce taste even better with a side of feta and Kalamata olives.

Okra are EXTREMELY low in fat, high in fiber, and VERY low in cholesterol. A 255g portion (without the tomato sauce) has 71 Calories, 1g of fat, and 5g of protein.  It consist of 52% Vitamin C, 24% Calcium, 17% Vitamin A, and 9% Iron.

Enjoy another one of my family recipes!

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Curing African Nations Suffering from Malaria with the Herb Artemisia

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Constadina Zarokostas-Vasiliades

This is an article I wrote a few years back for a Canadian based multicultural magazine, that talks about how a simple herb like Artemisia is being cultivated as a natural remedy to make African nations self-sufficient economically, instead of using the over-priced equivalent pharmaceutical remedy currently being offered to them.

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