Menopause is not a disease. It does not have to be a harbinger of accelerated aging and declining health. And it is not a debilitating hormone deficiency that requires hormone replacement therapy. In A Woman's Best Medicine for Menopause, you will learn how to reclaim menopause as a natural transition that is symptom-free, health-promoting, and spiritually transforming. As the body of evidence against the use of hormone replacement therapy continues to grow, this book is needed now more than ever. Based on time-tested, natural wisdom, this valuable guide offers a truly natural and complete approach to understanding your body, mind, and symptoms and balancing them without side effects. Here you'll learn how you can:

Nancy Lonsdorf, M.D., a Johns Hopkins-trained medical doctor and highly regarded Ayurvedic physician with over fifteen years of clinical experience, guides you with clarity through the maze of research findings that cover both HRT and natural approaches. You will discover that natural approaches such as diet, exercise, meditation, and stress-reduction techniques are superior to drugs and hormones in their health-giving effects at menopause and beyond.

Drawing upon one of the world's original and most complete systems of medicine, Ayurveda, Dr. Lonsdorf explains why you have the symptoms you have, why your menopause experience may be easier or more difficult than that of other women you know, what foods and lifestyle habits may be making your transition difficult, and how to adopt new habits that can help now and in the future.

The cornerstone of this book is a practical self-care program that is individualized for you through a series of self-assessment quizzes. It features a unique personalized spice-and-herb program that provides phytoestrogenic support at the same time that it gently purifies your body and eliminates the imbalances that are the real cause of menopausal symptoms. This approach will rejuvenate and balance you from within so that you look and feel radiantly healthy and youthful without the risks and side effects of drugs and hormones. You'll learn that the power to heal lies within you. You are your own best medicine.

"Dr. Lonsdorf, a physician as brilliant as she is compassionate, offers a roadmap for using Ayurveda to pass naturally through menopause. Every woman needs to read this book by the time she is 40 to understand how to prevent suffering and enhance the joy of this most natural transition." Candace B. Pert, Ph.D., Research Professor in Physiology and Biophysics, Georgetown University Medical Center, and author of Molecules of Emotion

A respected Western physician offers the first complete Ayurvedic approach to experiencing a healthy and comfortable menopause

As the body of medical evidence against the use of hormone replacement therapy continues to grow, there is an increasing demand for information about truly natural alternatives to promoting a healthy, symptom-free menopause. Written by the bestselling author of A Woman's Best Medicine, this book offers a holistic approach to good health involving nutrition, exercise, massage, sleep, and gentle herbal supplements. It draws on Ayurveda, an ancient healing system that originated in India over five millennia ago. The simple Ayurvedic prescriptions outlined by Nancy Lonsdorf, M.D., can help guarantee that your menopause will be a gentle transition to a new state of radiant good health and well-being for many years to come.

Nancy K. Lonsdorf, M.D., is the medical director of the Raj, one of the premier Ayurvedic health centers in the United States. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins, did her residency at Stanford University, and trained in Maharishi Ayurveda with leading scholars in India, Europe, and the United States. Dr. Lonsdorf and her work have been featured on NPR, "Donahue," "Geraldo Rivera," and CNN, and she has been profiled in the print media nationwide.