's Best of 2001
Menopause doesn't have to be a dreaded curse of aging during which we can look forward only to hot flashes and whacked-out hormonal mood swings. According to Christiane Northrup, M.D. (Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom), menopause often marks the beginning of a woman's most sexually passionate, creatively inspired, and professionally productive phase of life.

While this may sound like wishful thinking, Northrup backs up her good news with solid medical expertise. As an obstetrician and gynecologist, Northrup has specialized in using a mind-body approach to women's health for decades, which means she doesn't just write about hormones, but also examines how a woman's lifestyle, emotions, and beliefs are affected by menopause. With the right diet, attitude, and perhaps some supplements along the way, women can actually look forward to a resurgence of energy and a revolutionary opportunity for personal growth--one that rivals the hormonally driven period of adolescence in its scope and urgency, she claims. And yes, at just under 500 pages, The Wisdom of Menopause does explain how to have a positive and healthy menopause in concise detail. Northrup has indeed "written the book" on menopause.

It helps that Northrup has been through menopause herself (she vowed she wouldn't write a book on it until she was on the other side). Readers have the sense that they are gleaning advice from a knowledgeable holistic doctor as well as a sage aunt whose life was radically altered by the "change of life" (Northrup divorced at the onset of menopause). After she shares her personal story of "the change," Northrup delves into a significant discussion on how self-sacrifice catches up with women in midlife. Suddenly, hormones are directing women out of the caregiver role and into an inwardly focused assessment of life and its meaning, she explains. Resentments (not hormones) are what spur the notorious surges of anger, as women reexamine the agreements surrounding their relationships with colleagues, friends, and family members.

From here, Northrup guides readers into a thorough section on menopausal hormone changes--a discussion that is scientifically informative, yet entirely accessible. While acknowledging the need for hormone-replacement therapy and the tremendous relief it can provide (helping to alleviate insomnia, hot flashes, and depression), Northrup encourages women to avoid synthetic hormones and instead consider "bioidentical" hormones (such as estradiol, estrone, and estriol). She also devotes an entire chapter to foods and supplements that support hormonal balance. By the way, she says to skip the wild Mexican yam creams: "they certainly don't provide the documented benefits of progesterone." Be warned: some readers may find the advice in Wisdom of Menopause too alternative for their liking. For example, in her discussion on insomnia, one of Northrup's recommendations is to cover the mirror at night, following the ancient Asian design principles of feng shui. (Skeptics will find Northrup's medical assertions carefully cited and footnoted in the rear of her book.)

Northrup gives a solid and practical diet plan that supports hormonal balance while countering the weight gain that so frequently plagues menopausal women ("focus on portion size, not calories," "eat protein at every meal," and cut down on refined and high-carbohydrate foods). Readers can also expect a thorough mind-body discussion in subsequent chapters that cover breast health, bone loss, and cultivating midlife beauty, along with chapters titled "Sex and Menopause: Myths and Reality" and "Creating Pelvic Health and Power."

She concludes with a list of mail-order and online resources, such as retailers for bioidentical hormones, progesterone cream, Chinese herbs, soy products, weight-loss audiocassettes, lubricants, and Kegel weights. Northrup takes a truly comprehensive approach to all the effective treatments of menopausal symptoms so that women can make their own highly informed and wise choices. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly
Northrup (Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom), cofounder of the Women to Women health-care center in Maine, offers a celebratory, "psychospiritual" approach in her comprehensive guide to menopausal health and well-being. Beginning with the premise that, though difficult, the "hormone-driven changes that affect the brain... give a woman a sharper eye for inequity... and a voice that insists on speaking up," Northrup details hormonal imbalances, mood swings, serious illnesses, treatment options and all the other symptoms, side effects and decisions women face in midlife. Middle-aged herself, Northrup writes from experience and, more important, from her professional expertise as a physician who has treated many women and researched menopause. While much of the health-care material here is available in other sources, Northrup's approach a description of symptoms, followed by both traditional and alternative treatment options along with some anecdotes is particularly useful. Occasionally she veers off into New Age jargon, but she is a firm believer in the relevance of tangential influences on physical health, including emotional and financial well-being. The specific medical advice on sleep, diet, breast health and the empowerment motif will bring insight, comfort and confidence to women embarked on "the change." Agent, Ned Leavitt. (Apr. 3) Forecast: Northrup is a bestselling author widely held in the same esteem as Gary Null and Deepak Chopra. Among the competitive field of books on menopause, hers stands out for its whole-woman approach, which will make it attractive not only to her core readership but also as a hand-selling favorite among booksellers.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
"Boomer" women drawn to holistic medicine with a New Age tilt are the target readers of Northrup's second book (her first was Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom [1996]). Northrup opens with chapters that emphasize the mind-body connection, discussing menopause as a journey that "Puts Your Life under a Microscope" and a time when "(Your) Brain Catches Fire" and many women move "From Dependence to Healthy Autonomy." Later chapters consider the physical foundations of menopause, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of hormone replacement, discuss useful foods and supplements, and address related issues, from pelvic health and sex to the impact of menopause on the health of a woman's skin, bones, breasts, heart, sleep patterns, and mental health. Northrup discusses her own menopausal experiences in some detail: some readers will find this involving; others, solipsistic. Northrup's references to the more mystical reaches of holistic healing will also polarize: finding chakras and Tarot cards in this menopause manual will confound some readers, but others will find Northrup's eclecticism enlightening. Acquire where holistic health, broadly defined, circulates. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Northrup writes from experience and, more important, from her professional expertise as a physician who has treated many women and researched menopause. The specific medical advice on sleep, diet, breast health and the empowerment motif will bring insight, comfort and confidence to women embarked on 'the change.'"
-- Publishers Weekly


Praise for Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom:

"Feminine wisdom is the intelligence at the heart of creation. It is holistic, intuitive, contextual, and functions as a field of infinite correlation. Dr. Northrup's book is an expression of this wisdom."
-- Deepak Chopra, M.D., author of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind

"Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom is a gateway to the deepest understanding of health and well-being. Women have an innate sense of spirituality, an ability to attune to the wisdom within themselves and the larger whole that has been systematically ignored in medicine. Dr. Northrup restores the spiritual to the medical, facilitating the understanding and confidence that every woman needs in order to create a healthy body and a fulfilled life."
-- Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind and A Woman's Book of Life

"A masterpiece for every woman who has an interest in her body, her mind and her soul."
-- Caroline Myss, Ph.D., author of Anatomy of the Spirit

"While most male physicians seem hesitant even to use the word 'healing,' many women doctors -- epitomized by Dr. Christiane Northrup -- are demonstrating what genuine healing has always been about: the integration of the physical and the spiritual, psyche and soma, into a harmonious whole. This book demonstrates the reemergence of the feminine in healing, a force that has kept the inner pulse of healing beating for centuries. If you can't have Dr. Northrup for your doctor, read her book."
-- Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words, Meaning & Medicine, and Recovering the Soul

"Dr. Chris Northrup's book is an outstanding collection of information and case histories that will benefit everyone who reads it. It lives up to the title and I certainly intend to share it with my wife and daughter. I could go on extolling its virtues, but it will do more good if everyone just takes my advice and reads it."
-- Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles


From the Hardcover edition.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Dr. Christiane Northrup exposes the unsettling correlation between menopause, relationship tumult, and physical illnesses in The Wisdom of Menopause. In this eye-opening read, Northrup -- the esteemed author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom -- describes how hormonal changes that accompany menopause contribute to a woman's heightened awareness of the satisfaction or dissatisfaction she experiences in her personal relationships. A woman's reaction to these new feelings can determine both her emotional and physical well-being as she enters the postmenopausal years. If feelings of discontent are smothered and locked away, they may eventually manifest themselves in the form of physical illnesses including heart disease and breast cancer. But if the newfound feelings are examined, and relationships reassessed, there is the chance that the effects can be quite devastating. Northrup herself went through such a "midlife crisis" and in offering up her own very personal account, the author affirms that armed with courage and wisdom, women can indeed come out on the other side of The Change happier and healthier. Far from a cautionary tale about the uncontrollable havoc menopause can wreak in women's lives and marriages, The Wisdom of Menopause is an empowering look at the ways in which women can embrace their own self-knowledge and better their lives.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

￯﾿ﾽMenopause is every woman￯﾿ﾽs awakening ￯﾿ﾽ a stage that holds enormous promise for healing our bodies, minds, and spirits on the deepest levels.￯﾿ﾽ

Dr. Christiane Northrup destroys myths and challenges convention. Now in her groundbreaking new book, The Wisdom of Menopause, she will forever change your views on menopause. Filled with remarkable new health choices, research, and Dr. Northrup￯﾿ﾽs own candid personal experience, The Wisdom of Menopause is the ultimate guide for every woman ready to come into her own.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Northrup (Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom), cofounder of the Women to Women health-care center in Maine, offers a celebratory, "psychospiritual" approach in her comprehensive guide to menopausal health and well-being. Beginning with the premise that, though difficult, the "hormone-driven changes that affect the brain... give a woman a sharper eye for inequity... and a voice that insists on speaking up," Northrup details hormonal imbalances, mood swings, serious illnesses, treatment options and all the other symptoms, side effects and decisions women face in midlife. Middle-aged herself, Northrup writes from experience and, more important, from her professional expertise as a physician who has treated many women and researched menopause. While much of the health-care material here is available in other sources, Northrup's approach a description of symptoms, followed by both traditional and alternative treatment options along with some anecdotes is particularly useful. Occasionally she veers off into New Age jargon, but she is a firm believer in the relevance of tangential influences on physical health, including emotional and financial well-being. The specific medical advice on sleep, diet, breast health and the empowerment motif will bring insight, comfort and confidence to women embarked on "the change." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, a million-copy best seller, Oprah regular Northrup helps women prepare for menopause, both physically and emotionally. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"While most male physicians seem hesitant even to use the word 'healing,' many women doctors--epitomized by Dr. Christiane Northrup--are demonstrating what genuine healing has always been about: the integration of the physical and the spiritual, psyche and soma, into a harmonious whole. This book demonstrates the reemergence of the feminine in healing, a force that has kept the inner pulse of healing beating for centuries. If you can't have Dr. Northrup for your doctor, read her book."
-- author of Healing Words, Meaning & Medicine, and Recovering the Soul  — Larry Dossey, M.D.

"Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom is a gateway to the deepest understanding of health and well-being. Women have an innate sense of spirituality, an ability to attune to the wisdom within themselves and the larger whole that has been systematically ignored in medicine. Dr. Northrup restores the spiritual to the medical, facilitating the understanding and confidence that every woman needs in order to create a healthy body and a fulfilled life."
-- author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind and A Woman's Book of Life  — Joan Borysenko, Ph.D.

"Dr. Chris Northrup's book is an outstanding collection of information and case histories that will benefit everyone who reads it. It lives up to the title and I certainly intend to share it with my wife and daughter. I could go on extolling its virtues, but it will do more good if everyone just takes my advice and reads it."
-- author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles  — Bernie Siegel, M.D.

"A masterpiece for every woman who has an interest in her body, her mind and her soul."
-- author of Anatomy of the Spirit  — Caroline Myss, Ph.D.