Healthy Eating and Weight Loss

Answers for your specific questions.

Wondering about your health? Confused by what you’ve read? Browse our Ask the Nurse answer archive to find answers to many women's health questions and concerns. All answers are from a Cleveland Clinic women's health nurse.

Ask the Nurse Archive

Weight Loss Beverages

April 9, 2013 at 3:08pm

Is there a beverage I can make at home that is beneficial to weight loss? I know water is best, but I hear about beverages that can boost weight loss. Is this true? I am healthy otherwise, but overweight.

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Sodium Intake

March 25, 2013 at 1:44pm

I am diabetic and am diagnosed with high blood pressure. What is the recommended amount of salt per meal or daily?

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Weight gain during cancer treatments

March 6, 2013 at 3:15pm

I’ve been through 16 chemo treatments, a double mastectomy and I’m now in the midst of 33 radiation treatments for stage 3, triple negative, metastasized, carcinoma breast cancer. I’m using Aquaphor on my skin several times a day. I’ve also been put on Anastrozone and take 2 thyroid pills. No matter how much I am exercising at Curves and eating healthfully, I keep gaining weight. My belly seems to be sticking out farther, since I no longer have breasts. What can I do, besides the daily workouts at Curves?

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Triglycerides

September 14, 2012 at 3:14pm

How can I lower my triglycerides? I exercise at least 60 – 70 minutes a week on an elliptical at a level of 13. I eat fish twice a week and take a fish oil supplement as well.

I do not eat beef and eat very little other meat. And I eat pumpkin seed daily on my lunch salad. I need help!

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Gaining Weight on Hormone Replacement Therapy

August 28, 2012 at 3:30pm

I am getting ready to start Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) after a complete hysterectomy. Will the estrogen patch cause weight gain? I am prescribed 0.075 mg.

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Intense hunger

October 2, 2011 at 3:30pm

I am wondering what can be the cause of intense hunger. I eat 4-5 times a day and still it seems that I am always hungry. If I try to put it off too long I will get a really bad headache and in some cases feel kind of like I am going to pass out. What’s really weird is that it just came on in the last few weeks. Any ideas of what I should be checking into?

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Carbohydrates and a Healthy Diet

August 23, 2011 at 6:04pm

Can you please explain how carbohydrates affect our weight and how to figure out how many carbs you should have in your daily diet?

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Mediterranean Diet Can Help With Weight Loss in Women

August 23, 2011 at 5:16pm

I’ve been on the Atkins diet for about 3 months and have reached a plateau, how can I get past this stage and lose the remaining pounds?

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Hair Loss

August 16, 2011 at 3:14pm

I am losing hair. Do I need to start using Rograine or is it a temporary result of:

  • A new diet started in last month eating 2/3 fruits and vegetables for every 1/3 protein and grain
  • Dental work in last month - crown followed by root canal - many x-rays
  • Menopause - I stopped over 10 years ago.

What should I do?

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Unintentional weight loss

August 4, 2011 at 4:03pm

I am worried. I have weighed the exact same (from 209-216) for over 10 years. I am 5’10" and understand I am obese. The problem I have is I have dropped 4 dress sizes in the last two years, but lost no weight with out any improvement in the amount of exercise or a better diet. I am wearing clothes that I have had for ten years that are loose on me now that were tight on me. I do not understand what is going on. I have been told that as women age they expand around the hips and stomach but that is where my clothes are the most loose. No other part of my body seems bigger as nothing is tight now where it was not before. I am 35 years old and have never had kids. I just married and am looking to have a child in the next few years. I want to be healthy when we start to try. Any ideas on what I should ask my doctor about?

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