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| List of Figures | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction: The Journey Begins | |
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| Midlife: Redefining Creativity and Home | |
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| Why I'm Writing a Menopause Book Now | |
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| Blazing a New Trail | |
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| Menopause Puts Your Life Under a Microscope | |
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| "Not Me, My Marriage Is Fine" | |
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| The Childbearing Years: Balancing Personal and Professional Lives | |
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| Why Marriages Must Change at Midlife | |
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| My Personal Fibroid Story: The Final Chapter | |
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| Feeling the Joy of Co-creative Partnership | |
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| The Forces That Change the Goose Also Change the Gander | |
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| Real Menopause Hits | |
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| My Marriage Goes Bankrupt | |
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| Armadillo Medicine: The Power of Vulnerability | |
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| Celebrating the Past While Creating a New Future | |
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| The Brain Catches Fire at Menopause | |
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| Our Cultural Inheritance | |
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| Our Brains Catch Fire at Menopause | |
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| Learning to Recognize and Heed Our Wake-up Calls | |
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| Is It Me or Is It My Hormones? Debunking the Myth of Raging Hormones | |
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| The Multiple Roles of Your "Reproductive" Hormones | |
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| Embracing the Message Behind Our Menopausal Anger | |
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| Emotions, Hormones, and Your Health | |
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| How Our Midlife Brains and Bodies Are Set Up to Heal Our Past | |
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| Finding a Larger Meaning | |
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| Coming Home to Yourself: From Dependence to Healthy Autonomy | |
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| The Empty-Nest Syndrome | |
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| Boomerang Babies | |
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| Powerful Feelings, Powerful Healing | |
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| Caring for Ourselves, Caring for Others: Finding the Balance | |
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| Hitting Pay Dirt: Getting Clear About Money at Midlife | |
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| Coming Home to Yourself | |
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| Vocational Awakening at Midlife | |
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| A Road Map for Navigating Unknown Territory | |
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| This Can't Be Menopause, Can It? The Physical Foundation of the Change | |
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| What Is Happening in Your Body: Hormonal Changes | |
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| Perimenopause Is a Normal Process, Not a Disease | |
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| The Three Types of Menopause | |
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| Perimenopause and Hormonal Levels | |
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| Is There a Test I Can Take? | |
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| Menopause and Thyroid Function | |
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| Menopause and Adrenal Function | |
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| What to Expect in Your Transition | |
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| Hormone Replacement: An Individual Choice | |
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| A Brief History of Hormone Replacement | |
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| Bioidentical Hormones: Nature's Ideal Design | |
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| A Hormone Primer: Essential Information Every Woman Should Know | |
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| How to Decide Whether or Not to Take Hormones | |
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| A Dusting of Hormones | |
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| How Long Should You Stay on Hormones? | |
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| Foods and Supplements to Support the Change | |
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| Basic Principles of Herbal Therapy at Menopause | |
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| Menopausal Healing Foods | |
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| Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture for Menopause | |
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| Start Somewhere | |
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| The Menopause Food Plan: A Program to Balance Your Hormones and Prevent Middle-Age Spread | |
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| Making Peace (Once Again) with My Weight | |
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| Five Steps to Midlife Weight Control | |
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| The Elements of Imbalance | |
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| The Hormone-Balancing Food Plan | |
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| Optimizing Midlife Digestion | |
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| The Final Frontier: Accepting Our Bodies | |
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| Creating Pelvic Health and Power | |
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| What Is Yours, What Is Mine, What Is Ours? Reclaiming Our Boundaries | |
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| Hormonal Imbalance: Fuel to the Fire | |
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| Menstrual Cramps and Pelvic Pain | |
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| Heavy Bleeding | |
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| Fibroids | |
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| An Empowered Approach to Surgery or Invasive Procedures | |
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| Strengthen Your Urinary Health and Pelvic Floor Muscles | |
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| Sex and Menopause: Myths and Reality | |
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| The Anatomy of Desire | |
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| Sexuality at Menopause: Our Cultural Inheritance | |
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| Menopause Is a Time to Redefine and Update Our Relationships | |
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| Hormone Levels Are Only One Part of Libido | |
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| Secondary Libidinal Support: Estrogen and Progesterone | |
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| Testosterone: The Hormone of Desire? | |
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| Aids to Lubrication | |
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| Telling the Truth | |
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| Nine Steps to Rekindling Libido | |
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| Nurturing Your Brain: Sleep, Depression, and Memory | |
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| Enhancing Midlife Sleep | |
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| Depression: An Opportunity for Growth | |
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| Memory Loss at Menopause: Is This Alzheimer's? | |
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| Estrogen and Alzheimer's | |
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| Non-hormonal Ways to Protect Your Brain | |
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| Maximizing Midlife Wisdom | |
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| From Rosebud to Rose Hip: Cultivating Midlife Beauty | |
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| Making Peace with Your Changing Skin | |
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| Preventing or Treating Wrinkles | |
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| Midlife Acne | |
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| Rosacea | |
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| Hair in the Wrong Places | |
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| When Good Skin Care Isn't Enough: Deciding on Cosmetic Procedures | |
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| Varicose Veins | |
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| Standing Tall for Life: Building Healthy Bones | |
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| Osteoporosis: The Scope of the Problem | |
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| We're Designed for Lifetime Sturdiness | |
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| How Healthy Bone Is Made | |
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| Are You at Risk for Osteoporosis? | |
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| Measuring Bone Density | |
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| Bone-Building Program | |
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| What About Bone-Building Drugs? | |
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| Get Strong | |
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| The Sunlight-Bone Health Connection | |
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| Shore Up Your Earth Connection with Plant Medicine | |
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| Creating Breast Health | |
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| Our Cultural Inheritance: Nurturing and Self-Sacrifice | |
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| The Emotional Anatomy of Breast Cancer | |
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| Lifestyle and Breast Health | |
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| Eating for Breast Health | |
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| Breast Cancer Screening | |
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| Putting Breast Cancer Risk in Perspective | |
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| The Breast Cancer Gene: Should You Be Tested? | |
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| The Effect of HRT on Breast Health | |
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| Bioidentical Hormones and Cancer Risk | |
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| The Tamoxifen Dilemma | |
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| Living with Heart, Passion, and Joy: How to Listen to and Love Your Midlife Heart | |
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| The Heart Has Its Say at Menopause: My Personal Story | |
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| Cardiovascular Disease: When the Flow of Life Is Blocked | |
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| Palpitations: Your Heart's Wake-up Call | |
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| Gender Bias and Heart Disease: Our Cultural Inheritance | |
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| Arteriosclerosis: Reducing Your Risk | |
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| Carbohydrates, Sugar, and Heart Health: What Every Woman Should Know | |
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| Cardioprotective Supplements | |
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| Foods for Heart Health | |
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| What About Aspirin? | |
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| Get Moving! | |
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| Is Estrogen Replacement Necessary to Prevent Heart Disease? | |
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| How to Love and Respect Your Midlife Heart | |
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| The Heart-Opening Effect of Pets | |
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| Epilogue: The Calm After the Storm | |
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| Notes | |
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| Resources | |
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| Index | |
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| About the Author | |