Beat Menopause Naturally: 5 Holistic Approaches to Managing Menopause Symptoms

by Deborah Maragopoulos FNP | May 3, 2024 | Menopause, Hypothalamus | 0 comments

Beat Menopause Naturally: 5 Holistic Approaches to Manage Menopause Symptoms

What are holistic approaches to managing your menopause symptoms?

Let's talk about it.

As an intuitive integrative nurse practitioner, I am all about practicing holistic health care. Holistic health care means we're taking care of your physical, mental, spiritual, health, and often means integrating therapies. So you're not just using pharmaceuticals. You're using nutraceuticals and making healthy lifestyle changes to help keep your body in balance.

Menopause is the ultimate hypothalamic dysfunction.

The symptoms of menopause - hot flashes, brain fog, nights sweats, irritability, lack of libido - all are caused by hypothalamic dysfunction. And the hypothalamus gets unbalanced and dysfunctional when your hormones start to deplete.

So how can you help your hypothalamus work better?

Most women will be able to support themselves hormonally through the change of life with their adrenal hormones. Except if you've had a high-stress life and your adrenals are pretty pooped out, they can't support you - so you have really aggravating menopausal symptoms.

If you're supporting your hypothalamus nutraceutically with Genesis Gold®, you're also supporting optimal adrenal function which helps to provide your body with missing sex steroids. Adrenal hormones like DHEA can be converted into testosterone and estrogen. And the adrenals make up about 5% of your progesterone.

Nutraceutical support for your hypothalamus with Genesis Gold® is one of the key approaches to holistically managing your menopause symptoms.

Another is feeding your body nourishing foods.

The standard American diet with lots of trans fat and sugar causes hypothalamic inflammation which worsens menopausal symptoms. It's super important that you feed your body a plant-based diet.

I love the Mediterranean diet because it's easy to follow, plant-based, provides the menopausal body with enough protein to maintain lean body mass and includes healthy polyunsaturated fatty acids in the form of olive oil, nuts and seeds plus lots of phytonutrients with a colorful variety of vegetables, fruit and wholegrains.

The third holistic approach is activity.

Being sedentary will actually aggravate your menopausal symptoms. Exercise including aerobic and weight resistance is important to manage your menopausal symptoms. Exercise helps to reduce hypothalamic inflammation, which helps to mitigate menopausal symptoms.

Remember your hypothalamus is controlling your temperature, your sex drive, your stress response, your sleep and cognition so get your body moving.

Then consider how much sleep you’re getting.

I know sleep can be disrupted in menopause - you get up in the middle of night, you have to urinate, you're hot and sweaty. Yet another reason to support your hypothalamus nutraceutically to deepen and lengthen your sleep cycles. Be sure you're turning off the lights and sleeping in the complete dark. Do not expose yourself to blue light from digital screens after dusk. Be sure the temperature of your bedroom is between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.

Then if you've done all the first four steps - exercising, nourishing your body, sleeping, taking Genesis Gold®, maybe some extra Sacred Seven® amino acids if your symptoms are severe, and you're still having aggravating menopausal symptoms then it’s time to consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy

Naturally derived and chemically just like native estrogen and progesterone, BHRT can be a life saver in menopause. I prefer transdermal application to bypass the liver and not increase your clotting risk.

That's why I developed Gen-Pro™ - a true transdermal liposomal bioidentical micronized progesterone. The same prescription-grade progesterone I used with my patients for 30 years is now available, over the counter. Gen-Pro™ has helped mitigate the symptoms of thousands of my menopausal patients.

If you have any questions about holistic approaches to menopausal symptoms please join us in our Hormone Reboot Training.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can your hypothalamus cause weight gain?

Yes. The hypothalamus is the master regulator of metabolism, controlling how your body stores and burns energy through its signaling to the thyroid, adrenals, and pancreas. When the hypothalamus becomes dysregulated by chronic stress, poor sleep, inflammation, or blood sugar instability, it defends a higher weight "set point" — causing the body to hold onto fat regardless of diet or exercise. This makes hypothalamic dysfunction an upstream root cause of stubborn weight gain.

What is a weight set point and why won't mine move?

A weight set point is the body weight your hypothalamus works to defend, calibrated over time by stress, sleep, hormones, and inflammation. When you diet, the hypothalamus perceives scarcity and responds by slowing metabolism, increasing hunger hormones, and suppressing satiety signals to return you to that set point. This is why most people regain lost weight within two to five years of conventional dieting — the set point itself was never recalibrated, only temporarily overridden.

Why do I gain weight under stress even when I'm not eating more?

Chronic stress raises cortisol, which disrupts blood sugar regulation, promotes abdominal fat storage, and signals the hypothalamus that the body is under threat. In survival mode, the hypothalamus defends fat stores and slows metabolism — so weight can increase even without any change in calorie intake. The stress chemistry, not the food, is driving the weight gain, which is why stress reduction is essential to any lasting metabolic reset.

Why do I regain weight after stopping GLP-1 medications?

GLP-1 medications work peripherally on appetite and gastric signaling, but they do not address the underlying hypothalamic dysregulation that sets your defended weight. Because the hypothalamic set point is never recalibrated, the body resumes defending its original weight once the medication stops — leading to significant regain. Long-term success requires restoring hypothalamic regulation so the set point itself lowers, rather than relying on appetite suppression alone.

How long does it take to reset your metabolism?

Genuine metabolic recalibration takes a minimum of 90 days, because the hypothalamus needs consistent signals of safety and sufficiency before it will lower its defended set point. This differs from a diet, which produces temporary suppression the body quickly corrects. A 90-day reset typically moves through three phases: stabilizing stress chemistry (days 1–30), rebuilding metabolic efficiency (days 31–60), and lowering the weight set point (days 61–90).

Why does my thyroid feel slow even though my labs are "normal"?

Under chronic stress, the body converts thyroid hormone into reverse T3, which blocks active thyroid receptors and slows metabolism at the cellular level — even when standard lab values appear normal. This means you can experience genuine symptoms of slow metabolism, such as fatigue, cold intolerance, and brain fog, while your thyroid panel looks unremarkable. Addressing the upstream hypothalamic and stress signaling often improves thyroid conversion and symptoms.

Is stubborn weight gain a willpower problem?

No. Stubborn weight gain is a signaling problem, not a willpower problem. The hypothalamus governs weight through survival mechanisms that operate below conscious control — defending its set point by slowing metabolism and increasing hunger when it perceives threat. No amount of discipline can override this system; lasting change comes from restoring hypothalamic regulation through reduced stress, balanced blood sugar, restorative sleep, and targeted nutritional support.

About the Author - Deborah Maragopoulos FNP

Known as the Hormone Queen®️, I’ve made it my mission to help everyone - no matter their age - balance their hormones, and live the energy and joy their DNA and true destiny desires. See more about me my story here...

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Last Updated: May 2, 2024