Cameron Diaz covers Women’s Health to promote her upcoming book, her second health and wellness book, called The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time. Her first book, The Body Body, came out in late 2013. Cameron has some things to say about aging and while it comes across as well-meaning and generally true, it rubbed me the wrong way slightly. She’s only 43 (which I’ll be in a couple of days too), she presumably hasn’t gone through menopause yet and even if she has it’s different for everyone from what I understand. I thought that hormones, genetics, and so many other factors play into the severity of menopause more than stress. Plus isn’t there a chicken and egg situation with stress and menopause in that it’s a stressful time anyway? That sounds like blaming women for their symptoms. Apart from that, the brief excerpt that Women’s Health has available is decent.
In terms of the editorial, it’s a mixed bag. In the button-down shirts on the cover and one of the interior shots she looks great, but they put her in a poncho (not bad) and then a strategically ripped shirt with ripped and bedazzled jeans. That one shot where she’s sitting down and stretched out looks budget due to the bad fashion. Here’s some of what she told Women’s Health:
In Your 20s
“Bone mass is really important in your twenties— after that, we don’t build much bone anymore. So your twenties are your best chance to build bone through nutrition, physical activity, and strength training.”In Your 30s
“After 35, most women’s eggs start to dwindle. There’s no way of knowing until you test yourself. That might be something you want to do in your early thirties if your fertility is important to you.”In Your 40s
“Make connections, make friends, join communities, and really honor yourself. You’re getting ready to make that transition to menopause, so pay attention to where you’re at emotionally, physically, and mentally. The women who stress have it longer and harder, but the ones who accept it have it shorter and less severe.”
Looking at Cameron’s imdb, she hasn’t been in any films since 2014 and she doesn’t have anything lined up. I think she took a break after she married Benji Madden and she’s been focusing on other things. Plus the roles probably aren’t coming in for her, sadly. I have to give her credit, instead of launching a lifestyle brand or trying to doing a bunch of pap walks she’s just been focusing on educating herself about health, an issue which is clearly important to her. I just wish she wouldn’t make generalizations like this, but maybe this was taken out of context and hopefully her book is better. It’s out April 4th.
photos credit: Women’s Health
What is it with all these actresses being self help guru’s now? Paltrow, Aniston, Hudson,Diaz, it’s like the LA blonde beach brigade.
I know – and they are not exactly the right role models for self help either.
Gwyneth – preaches on everything and anything
Aniston – poor me queen who is known for her relationship failures and thrives on sympathy
Cameron – also know for her relationship failures
Hudson – don’t even get me started on this one
Agree on Paltrow, she’s been that way since the beginning, arrogant and grinding, her uncoupling, who talks like that. Cameron is strange, although drew a blueprint of her life early, no kids, no marriage….which she changed her mind on later on in life. Don’t agree on Jennifer, I see her as positive and happy woman which annoys the hell out of some people for some reason…what could it be! haha….Hudson, she’s just a by-product of Goldie, if her mother hadn’t been famous, we probably wouldn’t know who she is. A couple movies years ago and now she’s selling clothes.
They hit 40.
Bingo. I honestly can’t blame these women for shifting their revenue stream to something more stable. They like their lifestyle, and without this sort of thing, the money dries up. It’s brutal for women. Matt Damon doesn’t have to get off the money train now that he’s over 40, but if you’re a woman who’s fame is based on her beauty (even a very famous one), forget it. It’s self help books, or television.
I say get your hustle on, gals.
What else is there for a Hollywood Daughter to do? It’s a tough world out there post 40.
It’s the Hollywood Menopause.
LOL at Chelsea that’s perfect.
It really is!
That it is. And can I say as someone who went through a really hard time with menopause, very early and it lasted for SEVEN years (!!!) that Diaz is talking utter bollocks. This kind of rhetoric makes my blood boil. Its another way to ”blame” women for something totally out of their control. I hate to tell her but it is hormones, biology and to some extent heredity. If your mother/grandmother had a hard time with it chances are you might too.
Actors are not doctors.
Except Ken Jeong.
Ha ! You made my morning!
WHERE’S KEN JEONG’S BOOK??
True! Yet he doesn’t preach at the masses like this.
Zing!
haha!
Is she a doctor to tell women who are having a hard time with menopause, hey, you’re stressing so you are having it longer and harder, so chill?
Gag me.
I was in the middle of a divorce while going through menopause and my menopause was really easy. So, no, stress does not necessarily have a big impact on menopause (just through my experience).
Maybe she doesn’t mean literally how we are reading this. Maybe she is saying if you stress and fight it, it will seem like it lasts forever and is miserable. But if you roll with it, it will just pass you by.
Like being pregnant, it all lasts about the same length, you can either hate every moment and have longest 40 weeks of your life or you can enjoy it and it be the best, fastest 9 months. Maybe that is where she is going with it- the experience is what you make it.
But maybe she is giving dr advice too 🙂
A lot of the buying public take what celebrities say or write about as gospel. They have a lot of influence on women as in this case with Cameron’s books. It’s basic advice. Once the estrogen goes, there can be some unpleasant, to say the least, mood swings. A few years of supplementing with low dose estrogen pills (which also got rid of the hot flashes) was a lifesaver. Exercise, (if only a 20 minute walk a day), eating healthily and socializing is important too.
Nope, no doctor. A good doctor would say there’s a lot of individual variation and it depends on the woman, the woman’s genetics, the woman’s health profile, and so on.
My doctor says nothing about stress having to do with the length and severity of menopause. He says it is by far genetic and depends on when an individual had their first baby if they had children.
Cameron Diaz is the last person I’d seek advice from on any aspect of life. She is a flake who never lived outside her bubble, had children, aged naturally, etc. so what could she possibly know that would be of value to the average normal woman? Nothing and her BS talk about stress and menopause only proves that.
Lastly, I’d like someone to ask her about her stance on health as it pertains to alcohol consumption. She has been pegged in the blinds for the last year as being a drunken mess – bad enough to need help leaving bars, even being carried out. And, that her marriage is a mess and how unhappy she is. I guess the public is only suppose to pay attention to the things she wants us to pay attention to and forget about her poor decision-making – except where “health” is concerned.
Exactly. Let’s give women one more thing to blame themselves for. “It’s my fault it’s difficult because I’m not managing my stress.” Good God!
Plus, she is talking about PERIMENOPAUSE. Menopause is when you are done. It is a specific marker in time. Perimenopause is the time period where you have all the hot flashes, irregular periods, fatigue, etc. If she is going to talk like an expert, at least use the correct term. I get she is well-meaning but I just can’t with this.
absolutely Lucinda—let’s tell women, if you could kick back and relax like Cammy, you wouldn’t be suffering like this! Gag
Exactly. It’s kind of like telling an infertile woman “You’re just trying too hard” please F off with that kind of shaming, untrue, unhelpful ‘helpful advice’.
I also feel like celebrities shouldn’t even speak of stress at all really. They don’t really know what stress is. Having a lot of projects and a busy schedule, stressful, sure. However, working a job and knowing if you lose it you could lose your house, your future, your children’s future…they will never know what that’s like. They will never know what it’s like to HAVE to work. To have no options. Or worse, to want to work but be unable to find work. They just don’t get it. Don’t speak to the masses about stress.
ITA, pinetree13. No doubt celebs experience life stress like the rest of us (illness and death in the family, that sort of thing), but their basic existence is so much easier than the average person’s that they really just have no clue about the daily grind of ongoing stress and fatigue. Not just the stress of the 9 to 5 job, threat of being laid off, and not having any vacation time, but just the fact that they have people to do all of their cleaning, cooking, organizing and scheduling for them! I’m constantly in awe of that. If I had a housekeeper… god, the time I’d have to — well, write a book about healthy living! There’s a thought!
Totally agree,, when Cam is stressed she can go on a nice relaxing expemsive holiday. Maybe she should try that rather than giving out quasi-medical advice that she’s unqualified to dispense.
I have an extra spoon. I’ll pass it to you in a minute (pulls own hair back, readies her spoon).
Maybe she means that stress can possibly affect your menopause symptoms as opposed that it definitely will? I can see how stress can make living with menopause a bit harder mentally but to say it will affect you physically for sure is a little silly. I like that she is learning about the body and health in general, but I think she needs to tone down her advice since she isn’t a doctor.
Plus, I hate whenever any one says to try not to stress. Since when does anyone live a life without stress???!! I would venture even Cameron has stress.
She sounds like an arrogant moron.
Totally.
It’s because she is an arrogant moron.
Exactly. What would she know about menopause?? What’s next from her…parenting advice?
Cameron looks scary in the photos. She has done too many plastic surgeries!!!
Hmm, I was thinking she looked better than usual. But geez does she make some dumb generalizations. Ugh.
Well in the case of those you mentioned, no decent roles anymore , and a need to stay relevant and earn money. Plus I think that Paltriow just likes to impart wisdom..
Paltrow has always has an unsolicited opinion to give.. whether it’s “wisdom” or not, that is horse of a whole different color…
Paltrow has special snowflake syndrome, where she always thinks everyone is dying to know her opinion on everything, because she’s just so great. No thank you.
Cam seems to be suffering from “I read a little about this so now I’m an expert” syndrome. If women need advice on menopause, they should look to actual medical professionals, not a bored actress.
I’m a doctor AND post menopausal. I accepted it just fine and perimenopause still lasted almost 8 years for me, in varying degrees of intensity. The worst were the 2 years before actual menopause. It’s different for every woman.
Bingo.
Well, you are a doctor, but how could your years of experience AND medical school compare to the wisdom of a HW blonde with a lot of rom-com experience???
lol, exactly
A nurse once told me that menopause is hard for women because it comes at a time when they are no longer “needed” by their children and I think I stared at her cross-eyed and never went back.
I think it is hard because most often your children are teenagers when you are perimenopausal! Particularly hard to navigate if you have a teen girl with PMS. LOL!
I started at about 38 with some cycle irregularities, and I’ll be 50 next month. Hot flashes began minimally about five years ago, are pretty troublesome now ( though I did have respite with a clonidine patch). I can’t wait for it to her over- I swear I’m going to throw a huge party when it is!
I am 47 and I started perimenopause when I was around 36 and I am post menopausal finally. I have a teenager daughter. I always joke that no one can say God doesn’t have a sense of humor, putting a PMS teen with a Menopausal Momma.
@AngelL-
I hear you, sister. Mine will be off to uni this fall. Love her, but looking forward to halcyon days.
Women often confuse peri with post. Peri is often when you have the most noticeable symptoms. I’m a nurse and many of my patients were relieved when they reached menopause. Some women like having an emptier nest or children that don’t need attention all the time, it really does depend on the woman. My mom went back to work and said it was the best years of her life.
@paranormalgirl: Okay may I have free advice Doctor. What is the normal age for menopause. My oldest sister was only 46, is that normal. I’m 37 and haven’t thought about it, although surely won’t miss the periods!
Same here. The years before menopause were pretty brutal for me. Menopause itself lasted about five minutes. Cameron better be glad she didn’t utter this crapola to me at the height of my mood swings. Women who stress have it longer and harder. What a bloody idiot.
Shades of Suzanne Sommers!
Why would anyone look to an actress for a book on the science of aging, etc? Her comment about menopause alone tells me all I need to know about this book-that it’s opinion presented as fact.
I’ll get my science from actual scientists, not has been actresses looking for a way to fill her time and feed her ego.
Oh lord…forgot about Suzanne’s junk science! I remember when she was promoting that on Oprah and she was talking about the sheer amount of pills she takes. I remember thinking that maybe estrogen was a good idea but even in my teens it sounded nuts
She also promoted “natural” estrogen (yam cream or whatever) as a way to prevent the potential harms of hormone replacement therapy, but the body interprets estrogens the same way no matter what the source.
It wasn’t just pills either. I saw something on TV where she said she was actually injecting herself in her genital area with the stuff. I never knew a vagina could cringe, but mine did that day.
Her face is looking like green Jim Carrey in “The Mask”.
Of course, I’d look to Cameron Diaz for wisdom about menopause–first person I’d check in with. What?!? Thanks but no thanks.
LOL! I’d like to quote a certain Mr. Homer Simpson here: “Celebrities! Is there anything they don’t know?”
I was going through a very stressful time in my life during the menopause, but actually sailed through it without any problems at all.
She is a moron, menopause is different for everyone and stress does not cause a more difficult menopause. Blame the menopausal woman ? WTF? with her cheeks? It looks like she is storing ping pong balls in her cheeks.
My mother and grand mother went through menopause without any fanfare at all. My mom didn’t take any hormones.. I know that it is different for every woman. But she never stressed about it. Just drank cold water and turned on the fan..LOL
but all women are different and it affects us all differently. I do think attitude plays a part in how our bodies react to things as well. It is just the way of things. I don’t think anyone should be discounted in sharing their views simply because of the job they have. Everyone here talks about their experiences. Would it be discounted if we knew what their day jobs were.
I’m a family practice physician in my day job. She has a high school education. I don’t pretend to know about acting.
Touché.
Honestly, you don’t need to be a physician to understand menopause and what works for you. Every single woman goes through it and women all of the world have their little “treatments” or tricks to relieve it. It is somewhat concerning she is spreading bad science but on the other hand people know she isn’t a Doctor. People realize her greatest work merit is “Something about Mary.” Most won’t take her serious and if they do, they may be the type that don’t care if you’re a Doctor or not and prefer bad junk science.
@christina.
Well I guess nobody here better talk about their medical experiences or what they feel about health since they are not physician. And people here who are not actors, directors, writers, designer or anything related to entertainment talk about it and judge those that are all the time.
You comment doesn’t make sense. You don’t have to be a doctor to talk about issues. She may be wrong or right; but she is just sharing an opinion. Nobody has to take it as sole fact.
But here it’s more likely a chicken vs egg thing. If you’re having difficult physical symptoms, that can raise your stress level but the symptoms actually are the starting point for the extra stress. If your physical symptoms are mild, no additional stress even if the rest of your life is stressful.
She isn’t in menopause. How is she able to tell all women who have suffered it that if you would just chill it won’t be as long and hard. She has no clue.
She’s just stating her opinion. Just as everyone here does. I see people going off on Political issues and everything else. To my knowledge there aren’t many if any politicians here; and a degree doesn’t make your word the be all and end all of anything thing.. And I have a few degrees. Women share their experiences regarding health. It sometimes gives you comfort to know that what you are feeling or going through is not so different than that of someone else. You may not agree with what she is saying.. but a lot of us that have gone to “medical doctors” and tried to get help for symptom for any number of aliments; sometimes you don’t get the understanding that you need. So hearing from other women that have or will go through this helps.
I don’t know why people are so critical of her on this. But will go out of their way to support someone they like spouting off things not to different. But I guess if you like the person the message is taken differently.
She looks unrecognizable.
So instead of starting a lifestyle brand she’s written a book instead. Ha ha, good for her. I hope it reveals her to be a basically intelligent and reasonable person, and if so, I hope the reception for it is good.
She has hits like the Other Woman recently so I would assume she could still get work (but not in very good films however).
hits? the other woman didn’t do well at all.
I’ve never even heard of that movie.
Well, I will say this, as I did about Melanie Griffith the other day: Cameron Diaz is in the 1% of the world. She is advantaged in such a way – professionally, racially, geographically, etc – that she doesn’t have to wait for someone to give her a role to have work. This woman has Hollywood connections, enjoys A list status, lands magazine covers, has famous friends and free publicity at a sneeze…she can make something happen if she truly wanted to. It is not easy to get a film made, no… but so long as I see ambitious 20 somethings making features using iphones, or middle American housewives creating podcasts, I know there is a way for her and a lot of other women in her boat to “find work”.
Agreed. Especially because now there is so many outlets available to her. She could be making indies, move to tv which many big movie stars have already done, or make a Netflix/Amazon exclusive. If she wanted something I highly bet that she could get it done.
It’s funny. It seems like 15-20 years ago, all the 35+ actresses were starting their own production companies.
Nowadays, however, they all seem to be launching lifestyle brands instead (although Reese Witherspoon has done both). Maybe they’re just sick of acting?
I agree if she wanted to still be doing a lot of work, she could. Maybe she’s just tired of it, it’s not that unusual for people to want a change or a career shift after a long time in a business.
I think the “lifestyle” brand is seen as an easy way to have something to do, make some money, but not have to really hustle too hard. They have built-in PR from being famous, and hire people to run the day to day stuff for them.
Believe it or not, but the Other Woman, made almost $200 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. It got killed in reviews, but apparently people went to see it.
Instead of coming off as very educated she just sounds ignorant to me. Reading books about health doesn’t make you a doctor. Reading books about diets or have friends who diet don’t make you a dietician. Having an healthy life style doesn’t make you a life guru.
I just wish all these quackers would shut up and use their energies towards something useful.
WTH does she know about menopause at her age? She needs to worry about that big honking bunion of hers, sticking out all over the place and scaring us when she’s wearing sandals and leave the menopause comments to those of us who know something about it.
Lol. Well spotted, I didn’t look there at first.
Now wish I hadn’t…
This beyotch needs to STFU. She’s not even there yet. Did she even read what her ghostwriter wrote? Idiot. Every woman is different. She does NOT create her own suffering. It is a titanic change in a woman’s body and accompanying shift on every level. Some woman are more conscious of the shifts than others. Some have different biochemistry. Some have other inherited factors that affect the process. She hasn’t been there yet so STFU.
Her excerpts absolutely suck. I’m tired of every celeb “writing” a book. Bah!
She’s starting to look like Madonna.
Well, I went through menopause in my mid 40s, and, NO, stress does not contribute to menopause. If anything it’s the other way around. The worst part about it, hold on graphic content, there are no clear road signs like puberty.
You don’t suddenly stop your period. You don’t suddenly develop hot flashes. You don’t suddenly dry up where sex is painful. It is a gradual process for most women. What’s even worse? Maybe this was just me, but your docs don’t prepare you for it. You would think that ob/gyn’s would start planting the seed of what to look for in your late 30s, but they don’t or my did not. So, for years I dealt with subtle symptoms that resulted in serious distance with my husband as sex was not fun.
Anyway, that was my path. If you are in your late 30s/mid forties you want to start educating yourself now. And, from my perspective, and I believe in homeopathic to some extent, the herbs were no bueno.
Cheers.
What are those subtle symptoms? I am turning 40 in July and I want to know everything. What I should prepare for and what I can do to make it easier. My mom’s menopause as far I as can tell was fairly easy but I want all the info!
Check out info on perimenopause for the full deal, but looking back when it it was things like:
Waking up in the middle of the night and feeling like I had a mild fever. Not full-on hot flashes, but as if I was fighting off something.
Hard to stay asleep. I have horrible sleep patterns so this was easy to ignore.
Shorter periods and a wacky schedule.
Slower metabolism. Yeah, I used to think this was a myth that women used to excuse weight gain. Talk about karma coming back to bite my larger rear. Mine hit when I was diagnosed with hypothyroid, the double whammy. If I was doing what I am doing now in terms of exercise and diet ten years ago, I would be ten to fifteen lbs thinner. Now I struggle to lose 2 lbs. It’s pretty humbling.
Things to get tested because they hit at this time when your hormones change is your vitamin D levels and your thyroid. I was diagnosed with both in a routine well-check NOT related to my gyn.
Vitamin D is a biggie chicas. It helps all the others work better. Once I started taking supplements, some joint pain I had had went away within two weeks. I was shocked as glucosamine had done nothing.
That’s pretty much it.
@Kelly-
How much D do you take daily? I take 4000IU, and if I miss it much, I feel like my flashes increase.
Talk to your Doctor about it and honestly don’t listen to junk science (aka celebrities or entertainers). Symptoms vary from woman to woman, so what happens to one may not even happen to you. John Hopkins has a good source page as well as many other well known treatment centers & hospitals.
Initially I was put on a prescription dose for about three months, now I just take a Vitamin D supplement ( a 1000 iu) in addition to a multi-vitamin. I wouldn’t take the supplement unless you find out your deficient. The doc can run the panel next time you have a checkup with all the rest.
Vitamin D is one of the vitamins your body doesn’t process as well as you age. I was really shocked how much it helped with joint pain, but that was the only change I had made to my diet.
Hormones, thyroid, vitamine absorption all hit about the same time which is why, I think, women can get run down as the hit “middle age”. It’s also what makes losing that 5-10 so hard. Ah well.
Here is an article from the Mayo, but there is tons of information out there.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/vitamin-d-deficiency/faq-20058397
is she even speaking from experience? i mean, since she’s not a doctor she could only speak from experience, but she’s a bit young for menopause.
She has no idea what she is talking about! I saw the longer quotes from her book. I’ve been in surgical menopause since I was 40, going on 9 years now. My doctors completely failed me and offered no advice on what to do besides estrogen. I have a cancer risk and did not want to. I finally broke down and take the least amount possible daily.
Channeling Jerry Hall realness.
What is she now, a health guru. Stick to your day job. Next thing she’ll be telling us that it hurts really really bad to give birth,,,,,you know the woman who never had a baby, just as she has never been through menopause. Egads
Acting classes= the new med school! Yippee!
Here we go again – another celebrity spouting advice. Menopause is different with each woman. Some women have barely a symptom, others suffer horribly. I am in the “suffer horribly” group as mine was surgically induced 20 years ago. I gotta tell you, I’ve never experienced anything quite like it – 20-30 burning hot flashes a day, no sleep, bedding drenched nightly, the stress was unremitting. And no Cameron, my stress wasn’t causing the issues, it was vice-versa. I finally went on low dose estrogen and am still on it 20 years later – I will NOT give it up.
I clearly haven’t had enough coffee this morning….
I swear, if one more celebrity talks about menopause without revealing her hormone therapy status…. ugh. That is (by default) private information, but if you’re going to tell the world how easy and wonderful menopause is, then at least tell us whether you have been treated with external hormones.
Does anyone know if the type of periods you have has any effect on your menopause? Like, if you have ‘easy’ cycles throughout your child-bearing years are you more likely to have ‘easy’ menopause? I’m 36, so menopause isn’t in the distant future for me. My mom had the easiest periods known to humankind (every 28 days, 4 days long, never had a cramp) and the easiest menopause I’ve ever heard of. She literally just stopped having periods one month & was done. I, on the other hand, have had awful periods since I was 12yrs old. I’m just wondering if that has any bearing on how a woman’s body goes thru menopause–because I highly doubt “stress” is the #1 contributing factor…
You can be in perimenopause even in your mid-thirties, but it sounds like you’ve always had severe hormone fluctuations causing your nightmare periods. If the levels of estrogen and progesterone tend to swing too far one way or the other you can experience severe cramping and heavy bleeding, and it may escalate as you go through menopause. I’m no doctor so it’s best to discuss this with your ob/gyn and maybe get your hormone levels tested to see if you are indeed in perimenopause. If symptoms persist or get worse over the years many doctors will recommend a low dose birth control pill to even out hormone swings and regulate periods.
There’s really no preparing for menopause. It just hits and you start dealing with weight gain, no sleep, hot flashes and mood swings (can be a lot of anger). You have to ride it out. I took bio identical hormones the first two years but have been hormone free for the last 14 months. I was just tied if taking stuff and not really seeing a huge difference. I’m finally noticing a lessening in the hot flashes and some nights where I actually get a decent nights sleep. Im able to go
Back to the gym because I’m not exhausted. So things are looking up for me finally.
Yes, for me too. I’m about 3 years past my surgery and slowly getting back to “normal” (still get hotflashes but when I’m relaxed, I can almost sleep through the night). The worst part are muscle pains now – I used to be very flexible and now it’s enough if I sit too long in one position and I have a muscle spasms that last for days. Damn.. so annoying!
Oh, wow, that’s happening to me now, too and I never made the connection to menopause. As I was getting out of bed just today my upper back sort of seized up like it never had and now I’m just sore. Last week it was my lower back hurting. Coincidentally this is the first month, other than my pregnancies, that I have skipped my period. So I think it’s finally happening.
There’s really no preparing for menopause. It just hits and you start dealing with weight gain, no sleep, hot flashes and mood swings (can be a lot of anger). You have to ride it out. I took bio identical hormones the first two years but have been hormone free for the last 14 months. I was just tied if taking stuff and not really seeing a huge difference. I’m finally noticing a lessening in the hot flashes and some nights where I actually get a decent nights sleep. Im able to go
Back to the gym because I’m not exhausted. So things are looking up for me finally.
Let’s check in with darling Cammie when she actually hits menopause. I will be interested to hear her advice then lol. Meanwhile stuff a sock in it until you actually know what you’re dealing with.
My grandmother was the sweetest, calmest person and she had a horrendous menopause, complete with blinding migranes. My mother, a bundle of nerves, easily angered, constantly frustrated by life, men, children, co-workers.. went through menopause without even noticing it (so she said – we ALL noticed her moods, but she had no physical symptoms, foruntely). I had a surgical menopause at 48 – don’t wish it on anyone, it came like a tsunami within 72 hours of surgery. I can’t take estrogen (blood clotting problems), so I’m dealing with it on using herbal remedies (red clover is great, btw). No moods (I’m actually calmer and more relaxed about life), just lack of sleep, tons of hot flashes, headaches,, all kinds of other things. There is no rule but I recommend cutting down on red meat and animal protein in your 40s, it lowers your level of estrogen so when the change comes, it’s a little less horrendous.
I guess 40 is the Hollywood Menopause and Cameron will tell you all about it, LOL. Let’s see what she does when the real thing hits her. She’ll get HRT instantly.
Cameron’s advice reminds me of male doctors who talk about the pain of childbirth: “just relax and it won’t hurt so much” (or, even better, “natural childbirth does not hurt if you open yourself to the experience” or some other sh**). I have a similar reaction to both.
Show me a woman that doesn’t stress? I mean I guess rich women who work only 3 months out of the year stress less. Women really got the short end of the stick. Having to deal with monthly periods and then menopause…ughhh. To go through so much when you might not even choose to have kids. Men have it so much easier !
Before spending hard earned money on a celebrity’s book on ‘peri’, check out some online message boards related to the topic.
My friend’s male doctor told her something so simplistic it was unbelievable (lighter, cycles further apart and it’s over). Turns out everyone’s experience can be different, and many women say that their doctor either didn’t discuss or was inaccurate about what to expect.
“The ones who accept it have it shorter and less severe.”
BS, Cammie.
Show me even one study that supports this, otherwise STFU.
Way to shade any woman who is overwhelmed by the genetic lottery/hormonal cocktail experience that is perimenopause.
Do better research next time, or sit down.
This right here!
She looks like Madonna in some of these pictures. What did she do? I can’t put my finger on it.
Okay, this is not my field of expertise and my rotation in OBGYN did not involve much treatment of menopause. But, in general, each woman is different and each experience with menopause is different. Having said that, the rule of thumb is that stress is always hard on the body, no matter what the cause of the stress is. Anxiety will always make pain worse. That is why often when treating pain, many physicians will also treat anxiety as the two tend to feed of one another.
So does stress make life worse? Yes. Is stress hard on the body? Yes. Can stress cause medical problems? Yes. Does stress affect menopause? Maybe. How does stress affect the body during menopause? In the same way that stress affects the body without menopause. In other words, there is nothing of value in terms of information in what she is saying. But there is value in learning to deal with daily stresses.
good point. I wish your comment was earlier in the thread.
Well at least you read it;)
I’d rather she did pap walks. That’s within her purview. Medical advice most definitely is not. And obsessing over one’s own health, and encouraging other people to, is not a good thing.
She’s healthy and wealthy, she could do so much good, and instead she’s doing this.
Cameron has access to the best doctors and medical professionals in the world but I think if she wanted to write a book about women’s health I would prefer it written with a doctor. Women’s health is an important issue and it would have been more interesting to me framed that way with resources for the average woman. Cameron has never been the type of celebrity whose lifestyle has been a big focus of her image. So it feels like a way to jump on the actress over 35 advice books to rebrand themselves. Oh and she needs to knock it off with whatever she is doing to her face.
I don’t know about stress but doesn’t stress make everything worse anyway, so what a non-comment that is. What I know is that Asian women don’t have really severe transitions when it comes to menopause. Don’t know why but I’ve read that dairy products could be the thing – Asians traditionally don’t have a lot of dairy. Also, healthful soy products in very moderate amounts (tofu, natto, miso, tempeh – choose organic) from a young age is supposedly good for women’s health and the risk of breast cancer.
I just want to address your comment about Someone in their 40s not having gone through menopause presumably. Women of all ages can go through menopause due to certain health problems whether it be an autoimmune cause, fragile x, or an unknown reason. I know people in their teens and twenties on up who have gone through it (me included). My point here is, don’t let Cameron’s mention of menopause rub you the wrong way, you never know what a woman might have gone through.
She’s giving me serious shades of Pippa Tips! Thanks for the information CAPTAIN I CAN TYPE GOOGLE.
This really made me giggle!